LAWRENCE  J.  GUTTER 

Collection  of  Chicogoono 

THE   UNIVERSITY   OF   ILLINOIS 
AT  CHICAGO 

The  University  Library 


LIFE 


RT.  REV.  WM.  QUARTER,  D.D., 


FIRST    CATHOLIC    BISHOP 


CHICAGO. 


B  T 

JOHN  E.  McGIRR,  A.M.,  M.D., 

morcssoR  or  ANATOMY  AND  PHYSIOLOGY,  CHEMISTRY  AND 

BOTANY,  IN  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  ST.  MARY  OF  THE    LAKE, 
CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS. 


tfeto-Yorfe: 

D.  A  J.  SADLIER,  58  GOtD-STREET. 
BOSTON:  72  STATE-STREET. 

1850. 


TO  THE 

VERY  REV.  WALTER  JOSEPH  QUARTER,  V.  G. 

THIS    FEEBLE    EFFORT   TO    RECALL 

THE    LABOURS    AND    VIRTUES 
or 

HIS   DECEASED   BROTHER, 

IS 
RESPECTFULLY     DEDICATED, 

AS   A 

TOKEN    OT    PERSONAL    REGARD, 
BY 

THE    AUTHOR. 


INDEX. 


CHAPTER  I. 

PAG* 

From  his  birth  until  his  departure  for  America,       13 

CHAPTER  II. 

From  his  departure  for  America  until  his  ap- 
pointment as  Pastor  of  St.  Mary's  Church 
in  New- York, 25 

CHAPTER  III. 

His  missionary  labours  at  St.  Mary's  in  New- 
York,  40 

CHAPTER  IV. 

From  his  Consecration  for  the  See  of  Chicago 
until  the  end  of  the  first  year  of  his  Epis- 
copal labours, 59 

CHAPTER  V. 

From  the  commencement  of  the  second  year  of 

his  Episcopacy  until  his  Death,        .         .         88 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Review  of  his  labours ;  his  character ;  conclu- 
sion. .  113 


PREFACE. 


IN  writing  this  Life,  I  have  endeavoured 
to  keep  in  view  the  fact,  that  the  early 
years  of  Bishop  Quarter  gave  the  promise 
of  that  virtuous  career  which  his  after  life 
realized :  and  therefore  have  I  dwelt  upon 
the  manner  of  his  early  training.  Again  :  I 
have  introduced  observations  that  might,  to 
some,  seem  not  strictly  warranted  by  the 
subject ;  but  it  will  be  found,  I  think,  that 
they  go  to  describe  the  danger  and  violence 
of  a  disease,  so  that  the  judicious  selection 
of  the  remedy  applied  by  the  Bishop  and 
the  success  of  the  cure,  may  the  more  fully 
exhibit  the  skilfulness  of  the  physician. 

To  guard  every  loop  hole,  to  avoid  every 
error,  would  be  impossible.  Nothing  ter- 


8  PREFACE. 

restrial  escapes  the  common  condition  of 
imperfectibility ;  and  the  writer  has  besides 
to  urge  in  extenuation  of  his  errors,  the 
novelty  of  his  situation  in  appearing  before 
the  public  as  the  author  of  a  book. 

Would  that  it  were  worthier  !  with  all 
its  faults,  however,  it  is  sent  forth,  confident 
that  the  reader  will  look  rather  to  the  sub- 
ject of  the  picture  than  to  the  manner  of 
the  colouring  ; — to  the  gem,  than  to  the  set- 
ting. 

CHICAGO,  April  29th,  1849. 


INTRODUCTION. 

u  Example  is  a  globe  of  precepts." — BACON. 

EXAMPLE  rules  the  world.  The  warrior 
upon  his  country's  battle-field  performs  pro- 
digies of  valour,  and  whether  the  cause  in 
which  he  fights  be  just  or  unjust,  his  indi- 
vidual merits  are  blazoned  upon  the  historic 
page.  Youths  dwell  upon  the  relation  of 
these  exploits,  and  in  spirit  they  are  war- 
riors. The  statesman  in  the  senate  cham- 
ber defends  successfully  an  important  poli- 
tical principle  ; — thousands  of  his  party  laud 
his  efforts,  and  from  the  hands  of  the  untir- 
ing press  his  opinions  are  scattered  broad- 
cast over  the  land.  Youths  are  anxious  to 


X  INTRODUCTION. 

be  statesmen,  to  gain  the  world's  renown, 
and  the  fame  which  it  values  is  their  only 
governing  motive. 

The  history  of  a  generation  affords  thou- 
sands of  instances  in  which  example  stamps 
the  character  and  seals  forever  the  fate  of 
its  deluded  victims  ;  and  if  example  be  thus 
potent,  how  important  does  it  become  that 
the  model  be  of  an  exalted  kind — -one  in 
which  the  higher  and  the  holier  aspirations 
that  should  govern  mortals  would  appear— 
one  in  which  would  not  exist  that  vain,  pitiful, 
miserable  longing  for  the  breath  of  popular 
applause,  as  evanescent  as  that  upon  the 
dimmed  surface  of  a  polished  mirror,  but  in 
which  would  be  found  that  earnest  yearning 
to  accomplish  good  things  for  all  men  ;  that 
unceasing  effort  to  benefit  all  mankind,  the 
memory  of  which  will  live  after  them. 

We  may  then  turn  popular  attention 
with  much  benefit  from  the  military  and 
political  idols  that  now  fill  its  eye,  to  the 
contemplation  of  man  as  he  ought  to  be,— 


INTRODUCTION.  XI 

to  the  nobleness  of  virtue  which  sanctifies 
knowledge.  Oh  !  it  is  a  holy  duty,  while 
selfishness  and  impiety  go  hand  in  hand 
through  the  world,  seeming  to  constitute  the 
only  essential  qualifications  to  respectabili- 
ty, the  only  passports  to  renown,  to  place  be- 
fore it  the  character  of  one  who  laboured  for 
the  good  of  all,  and  earnestly  before  God 
and  for  God  ;  one  in  whom  there  was  no 
selfishness  nor  guile.  Thus  youth  may  be 
able  to  contrast  the  character  of  the  world- 
ling with  that  of  the  man  of  God. 

The  first  endeavours,  by  his  example,  to 
prove  that  man  may  live  independently  of 
his  Creator ;  the  latter,  while  he  proves  our 
absolute  dependence  on  Him  who  called 
us  into  being,  teaches  the  infant  heart  the 
secret  by  which  the  fountains  of  God's 
goodness  may  be  opened.  The  first  teaches 
youth  to  scoff;  the  latter,  to  pray,  under  the 
sublime  conviction  that  the  prayer  offered 
up  by  the  child  at  its  mother's  knee,  is  the 
same  prayer  that  is  uttered  by  the  my- 


Xll  INTRODUCTION. 

riads  of  the  angels  around  the  throne  of  the 
Eternal: — the  same  prayer  taught  here 
below  that  it  will  repeat  when,  having  "  sha- 
ken off  this  mortal  coil,"  'it  will  return 
to  the  household  of  its  Father  who  is  in 
Heaven. 


LIFE 

OF 

THE  RT.  REV.  WM.  QUARTER,  D.  D. 


CHAPTER   I. 

FROM    HIS    BIRTH   UNTIL    HIS  DEPARTURE  FOR    AMERICA, 

1806—1822. 

RT.  REV.  WILLIAM  QUARTER,  first  Bishop 
of  Chicago,  in  the  state  of  Illinois,  was  born 
in  Killurine,  Kings  County,  Ireland,  on  the 
21st  day  of  January,  in  the  year  1806.  He 
was  the  third  son  of  Michael  Quarter  and 
Ann  Bennet.  There  were  four  brothers  : 
John,  the  eldest ;  Walter  Joseph,  the  vicar 
general  of  the  Bishop  and  present  adminis- 
trator of  the  diocese ;  William,  the  subject 
of  this  memoir  ;  and  James,  who  died  before 
he  arrived  at  the  age  necessary  to  receive  or- 
dination. It  was  his  intention  to  have  en- 
tered the  holy  order  of  the  priesthood. 

The  family  of  the  Quarters  was  of  the 
most  respectable  ;  and  rarely  is  one  found 


14  LIFE    OF    THE 

that  has  given  more  priests  and  bishops  to 
the  Church  than  the  maternal  branch  of  it 
has  done.  "  The  number  of  clergymen  here 
and  in  the  diocese  of  Meath  that  are  con- 
nected with  it,  is  at  the  present  time  little 
short  of  twenty ;  and  they  have  to  display  an 
unsullied  name,  while  there  have  never  been 
any  men  in  the  ministry  more  firm  in  up- 
holding the  rights  of  the  priesthood." 

Mrs.  Quarter,  the  Bishop's  mother,  look- 
ing upon  the  pledges  that  God  had  given 
as  merely  entrusted  to  her  guardianship 
upon  earth,  and  to  be  required  from  her  here- 
after, devoted  herself  to  their  early  training 
in  the  path  in  which  they  should  walk,  so 
that  "  in  age  they  might  not  depart  from  it." 
As  soon  as  they  could  enunciate  properly, 
they  were  taught  their  morning  and  evening 
prayers  ;  and  that  good  custom  of  gathering 
the  little  flock  to  the  morning  and  evening 
devotions  was  never  omitted  in  her  house  ; 
nor  did  the  family  ever  retire  at  night  with- 
out having  first  said  the  Rosary  of  the  Bless- 
ed Virgin  Mary.  From  this  practice  sprung 
that  devotion  to  the  Mother  of  God,  which 


RT.    REV.    WM.    QUARTER.  5 

so  remarkably  distinguished    the    Bishop 
through  life. 

The  example  thus  se.t  him  by  his  mother ; 
her  earnest  efforts  to  instil  into  his  young 
heart  the  love  of  virtue  and  the  horror  of 
sin,  made  a  deep  impression  upon  his  pliant 
mind.  In  after  life  he  would  often  say, 
"  I  never  saw  but  one,  and  that  one  was  Bi- 
shop Brute,  who  exhibited  so  tender  a  piety 
as  my  mother  ;"  and  the  recollections  of  the 
scenes  of  his  childhood's  years  when  he 
knelt  beside  that  mother's  knee,  while  she 
placed  her  hand  upon  his  little  head,  and 
taught  him  to  lisp  his  prayers,  could  never 
be  blotted  from  his  memory.  How  often 
did  he  thank  God  for  having  given  him  such 
a  mother !  and  he  seemed  never  to  weary 
of  repeating  the  instances  of  her  kindness, 
her  goodness,  and  her  watchfulness.  Fre- 
.quently,  he  said,  "I  owe  all  that  I  am  to  her; 
I  would  never  have  been  a  Priest,  I  would 
never  have  been  a  Bishop,  but  for  her  ;"  a 
tear  would  gather  in  his  bright  eye,  and  steal 
over  his  care-worn  cheek,  while  he  breathed 
a  prayer  to  God  that  he  might  meet  his  mo- 


16  LIFE    OF    THE 

ther   again   in  his   father's  house,  after  he 
had  accomplished  his  earthly  pilgrimage. 

The  virtuous  example,  the  pious  life  and 
the  tender  love  of  such  a  mother,  could  not 
but  make  a  deep  impression  upon  the  hearts 
of  her  children.     She   ruled  them  by  love, 
and  they  were  bound  to  her  by  the  ties  of 
love.     As  the  gentle  breath  of  the  zephyr, 
dancing  upon  the  smooth  surface  of  a  lake, 
causes    neither    ripple    nor    wave    to  dis- 
turb that  surface,  nor  raises  up   sediment 
from  the  bottom  of  the  deep,  so  did  the  even 
tenor  of  these  children's  lives,  leave  undis- 
turbed beneath    the  surface,  the   passions 
that  for  the  most  part  disfigure  the  face  of 
childhood.     It  gave  them  early  a  mastery 
over  themselves,  which  was  a  marked  cha- 
racteristic in  the  life  of  the  Bishop. 

His  mother  was  anxious  that  God  might 
call  some  one  of  her  children  to  the  holy 
order  of  the  Priesthood,  and  the  manner  of 
her  early  training  was  directed  to  favour  in 
them  a  desire  similar  to  her  own.  She 
had  taught  her  son  William,  at  the  age  of 
seven  years,  to  serve  mass,  and  he  never 


RT.    REV.    WM.    QUARTER.  17 

felt  so  happy  as  when  he  had  served  at 
that  holy  sacrifice,  for  the  priest  who  offi- 
ciated in  his  father's  house.  She  would 
tell  him,  when  he  had  been  thus  engaged  : 
"  My  son,  it  does  my  heart  good  to  see  you 
serving  at  the  altar.  I  consider  your  place 
there  more  honourable  than  if  you  occupied 
the  first  station  in  a  kingdom  :  now  you  are 
truly  in  the  service  of  your  God." 

William  Quarter  early  corresponded  with 
her  wishes,  and  he  seemed  to  have  set  his 
heart  upon  a  religious  life  :  for  in  his  very 
childhood,  and  while  his  playmates  were 
building  their  mud  houses,  or  their  little 
sand  embankments  to  stop  a  water-course, 
or  playing  bo-peep,  or  engaged  in  other  di- 
versions peculiar  to  their  years,  he  would 
steal  away  from  them,  that  he  might  be 
alone,  and  then  he  would  build  his  little 
altar  and  ornament  it,  offering  up  to  God 
upon  it  the  sacrifice  of  his  young  and 
spotless  heart.  And  the  sacrifice  was  ac- 
cepted; for  what  on  earth  is  purer,  what 
more  worthy  of  the  Creator  of  all  things, 


18 


LIFE    OF    THE 


than  the  pure  heart  ere  the  stain  of  sin 
has  disfigured  it. 

Mrs.  Quarter  had  received  an  excellent 
education  in  the  school  of  a  religious  com- 
munity, and  she  therefore  assumed  the 
task  of  instructing  her  son,  of  opening 
and  expanding  the  first  flowers  of  his  in- 
tellect. She  was  well  aware  that  the 
common  schools  of  education  were  to  the 
morals  like  a  Siberian  desert  to  the  ten- 
der plant  reared  under  a  warmer  clime. 
She  determined  therefore  to  have  the  en- 
tire management  of  his  early  years ;  and 
his  after  life  is  evidence  of  her  capability 
and  of  the  manner  in  which  she  dischar- 
ged her  duty. 

He  devoted  himself  assiduously  to  his 
studies,  and  he  mastered  every  branch  and 
overcame  every  difficulty  with  which  he 
grappled,  in  a  way  that  showed  him  to  be 
possessed  of  a  very  high  order  of  intellect. 
So  rapid  was  his  progress,  that  at  the 
age  of  eight  years  he  was  fitted  to  enter 
a  boarding  school  at  Tullamore. 

Previous    to  entrusting  him  to  the  care 


RT.    REV.    WM.    QUARTER.  19 

of  strangers,  his  mother  exerted  herself  to 
fortify  his  piety  by  preparing  him  for  his 
first  communion.  He  presented  himself 
at  that  holy  table  where  he  was  to  re- 
ceive his  Redeemer  into  his  young  heart, 
with  a  piety  so  remarkable  as  to  produce 
an  effect  which  they  have  never  forgot- 
ten, upon  the  older  friends  who  witnessed 
his  reception  of  the  sacrament. 

Influenced  then  by  his  happiness,  by  the 
love  that  burned  in  his  soul,  and  in  cor- 
respondence with  the  graces  vouchsafed 
to  him,  he  expressed  his  determination  to 
live  henceforth  for  God  alone,  to  enter 
the  holy  order  of  the  priesthood,  and  he 
laid  his  talents  with  a  self-denying  humi- 
lity at  the  foot  of  the  cross,  to  be  conse- 
crated to  Christ. 

Immediately  after  having  made  his  first 
communion,  he  left  home  for  Tullamore, 
where  he  entered  the  Academy  of  Rev. 
Mr.  Deran,  a  retired  Presbyterian  clergy- 
man, and  one  of  the  best  classical  scho- 
lars in  Ireland.  Here  he  commenced  his 
classical  and  mathematical  studies.  After 


20  LIFE    OF    THE 

remaining  about  two  years  with  Mr.  De- 
ran,  he  entered  the  Academy  of  John  and 
Thomas  Fitzgerald,  kept  in  the  same  town. 
In  this  school  he  completed  his  course  of 
study  preparatory  to  entering  the  College 
of  Maynooth.  With  this  purpose,  in  his 
sixteenth  year,  he  stood  and  passed  in  a 
most  satisfactory  manner  his  public  exa- 
mination. But  Providence  had  marked 
out  for  him  another  destiny. 

During  the  years  that  he  thus  spent 
preparing  himself  for  his  collegiate  course, 
he  was  distinguished  for  the  same  tender 
and  exemplary  piety  that  characterized  him 
when  under  the  watchful  care  of  his  good 
mother  ;  and  so  remarkable  was  his  de- 
meanour, that  his  companions  styled  him 
the  "little  Bishop."  Little  thought  they 
that  the  day  would  come  when  the  title 
of  his  boyhood  would  be  the  distinction 
of  his  manhood.  The  qualities  of  his  heart 
so  endeared  him  to  all  his  schoolmates, 
that  his  power  of  doing  good  among  them 
was  almost  unbounded,  and  he  used  it  to 
the  utmost,  exhorting  to  virtue  and  reprov- 


RT..  REV.    WM.    QUARTER. 

ing  vice.  His  charity,  even  thus  early  in 
life,  was  ever  in  search  of  objects,  and  when- 
ever his  parents  furnished  him  with 
pocket  money,  it  was  not  hoarded  up,  nor 
spent  in  youthful  indulgences,  but  distri- 
buted to  the  last  farthing  among  the  suf- 
fering and  the  needy  poor.  He  realized 
often  how  sweet  it  is  to  give  alms  for 
God's  sake. 

About  the  time  that  his  preparations  to 
enter  the  college  of  Maynooth  were  com- 
pleted, the  Rev.  Mr.  McAuley,  brother 
of  Count  McAuley,  of  Frankford,  Kings 
Co.,  returned  to  Ireland  from  the  United 
States.  This  gentleman  spent  much  of 
his  time  at  the  house  of  the  father  of 
young  Quarter ;  and  often,  as  he  spoke  of 
the  condition  of  the  Catholic  missions  in 
America ;  —  of  the  thousands  of  Catholic 
children,  that  were  growing  up  far  away 
from  the  teachers  of  their  holy  faith,  and 
in  a  land  where  Mammon  was  the  wor- 
shipped deity  —  of  the  wandering  away 
from  the  one  sheepfold  of  so  many  that 
were  sealed  at  the  baptismal  font  as  mem- 


22 


LIFE    OF    THE 


bersofthe  one  holy  Church,  and  who  were 
thus  lost  for  want  of  instructors  and  ex- 
ample —  of  the  extent  of  the  harvest  and 
the  scarcity  of  the  gleaners ;  as  he  spoke 
of  all  these,  the  young  aspirant  to  the 
ministry  would  listen  to  him  till  the  tears 
trembled  on  his  eyelids,  and  with  the  hope 
that  God  would  call  him  to  so  important 
a  field.  And  to  it,  he  did  call  him. 

So  great  became  his  desire  to  forsake 
all  things  for  Christ,  that  the  abandon- 
ment of  home  and  friends,  even  of  his 
dearly-loved  mother,  of  the  shamrock-co- 
vered hills  and  green  fields  of  his  native 
island,  and  the  thousand  memories  that  so 
strongly  influence  the  heart  of  youth,  ere 
the  stern  realities  of  life  have  petrified 
it,  seemed  as  nothing  to  him,  in  compa- 
rison with  the  happiness  of  having  saved 
one  soul  from  eternal  perdition.  Influen- 
ced by  the  zeal  that  burned  in  his  bosom, 
he  went  to  the  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Doyle,  his 
Bishop,  and  requested  his  exeat  that  he 
might  go  whither  the  voice  of  his  Father  in 
heaven  called  him  ;  and  he  did  this,  even 


RT.    EEV.    WM.    aUARTER.  23 

' 

before  he  had  communicated  to  his  pa- 
rents his  purpose.  The  good  Bishop  Doyle 
was  sorry  to  part  with  one  whom  he  looked 
upon  as  peculiarly  his  own,  and  likely 
soon  to  be  a  very  valuable  labourer  in  his 
vineyard ;  an  ornament  to  his  diocese ; 
still  he  could  not  but  admire  the  courage 
of  the  youth  and  his  truly  Christian  spi- 
rit, and  he  gave  him  his  exeat  and  his 
blessing. 

What  were  the  feelings  of  the  family 
of  the  young  Quarter,  when  he  announced 
to  them  that  he  was  about  to  start  imme- 
diately for  America,  is  more  easily  ima- 
gined than  described.  And  it  is  only  he 
who  has  knelt  to  his  parents  and  receiv- 
ed their  parting  blessing,  ere  he  has  bid- 
den adieu  to  the  land  of  his  birth,  about 
to  go  forth  into  the  land  of  the  stranger 
for  a  home  and  a  grave,  that  can  tell  what 
must  have  been  the  thoughts  of  the  young 
exile.  Still  the  remonstrances  of  friends 
and  relatives,  and  the  strong  ties  of  filial 
affection,  knocking  at  the  chambers  of  his 
heart,  received  no  response  :  he  had  formed 


24  LIFE    OF    THE 

his  resolution.  His  parents  felt  that  they 
had  no  right  to  stand  between  him  and 
the  service  of  his  divine  Master  ;  and  when 
he  knelt  by  his  mother's  knee,  where  he 
had  first  learned  to  lisp  his  infant  pray- 
ers, to  receive  her  parting  blessing,  she 
kissed  his  fair  young  brow,  as  she  said  to 
him  :  "  My  son,  I  have  given  you  to  God ; 
go  whithersoever  He  calls  you,  and  may 
his  and  your  mother's  benediction  ever 
attend  you  !" —  Oh  !  how  often,  amid  the 
checkered  scenes  of  his  life,  did  the  re- 
membrance of  his  mother's  voice  and  bless- 
ing, as  she  bade  him  go;  of  her  kindness 
and  her  care  ;  rise  before  and  hover  around 
him,  even  as  guardian  angels,  to  shield 
and  to  comfort  him  in  the  hours  of  trial 
and  of  tribulation ! 


RT.     REV     WM.    QUARTER.  25 


CHAPTER  II. 

FROM  HIS  DEPARTURE  FOR  AMERICA  UNTIL  HIS  AP- 
POINTMENT AS  PASTOR  OP  ST.  MARY's,  CHURCH  IN 
NEW-YORK,  1822—1833. 

On  the  10th  day  of  April,  1822,  in  the 
sixteenth  year  of  his  age,  William  Quar*- 
ter  left  his  native  land  for  North  Ame- 
rica. It  is  a  singular  coincidence,  that,  on 
the  very  same  day  of  the  same  month, 
twenty-six  years  later,  the  period  of  his 
earthly  exile  terminated. 

The  vessel  in  which  he  sailed  landed  at 
Quebec.  He  presented  himself  to  the  Bishop 
of  that  city,  and  asked  to  be  received  as 
an  ecclesiastical  student:  but  his  youth 
was  urged  as  an  objection,  and  this  objec- 
tion he  could  not  remove.  He  applied 
next  to  the  Bishop  of  Montreal,  where 
the  same  objection  as  to  his  youth  was 
urged  against  him.  He  then  went  to  Mt. 
St.  Mary's  College,  Emmetsburg,  Md., 
where  he  applied  to  Rev.  Mr.  Dubois,  the 


26  LIFE    OP    THE 

President  of  the  College,  afterwards  the 
Bishop  of  New- York.  Here  the  reason 
that  had  caused  his  rejection  in  Canada, 
operated  in  his  favour,  and  with  Rev.  Mr. 
Dubois  his  youth  was  his  first  and  best 
recommendation.  That  good  clergyman, 
an  exile  himself,  received  young  Quarter 
even  as  a  father  would  a  son ;  and  ever 
afterwards  through  life  there  existed  be- 
tween them  the  reciprocal  tenderness  and 
regard  of  a  father  for  a  son  and  of  a  son 
for  a  father. 

Rev.  Mr.  Dubois  examined  his  young 
pupil  in  the  studies  which  he  had  been 
pursuing,  and  finding  that  he  was  master 
of  them,  placed  him  at  once  in  the  Semi- 
nary, which  he  entered  on  the  8th  day 
of  September.  He  chose  this  day  as  the 
one  on  which  to  commence  his  prepara- 
tion for  the  ecclesiastical  state,  because  it 
was  a  festival  of  her  whom  in  his  child- 
hood he  had  chosen  as  his  patroness. 

So  thorough  had  been  his  course  of 
mathematical  and  classical  studies,  and 
so  completely  was  he  master  of  these 


RT.    REV.    WM.    QUARTER.  27 

branches,  that  he  was  at  once  placed  in 
charge  of  the  classes  of  Greek  and  Latin  and 
Algebra ;  and  in  the  second  year  of  his  resi- 
dence at  Mt.  St.  Mary's,  he  was  appointed 
Professor  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  languages. 
As  a  proof  of  his  piety,  of  his  humility, 
and  of  his  veneration  for  the  mysteries  of 
his  holy  faith  at  this  period  of  his  life,  it 
may  not  be  improper  to  mention,  that  when 
appointed  sacristan,  one  year  after  having 
entered  the  seminary,  he  prepared  himself 
for  his  duties  by  approaching  the  holy  sa- 
craments of  penance  and  the  Eucharist,  and 
he  went  on  his  bare  knees  from  the  door  of 
the  church  to  the  sanctuary,  so  unworthy 
did  he  consider  himself.  It  was  with  fear 
and  trembling  that  he  placed  his  hand  upon 
the  chalice  which  contained  the  consecrated 
blood  of  Jesus  Christ.  Familiarity  in  his 
long  ministry  did  not  diminish  one  iota  of 
this  his  early  respect  and  veneration ; 
and  often  has  he  warned  those  whom  it 
was  his  happiness  to  have  exalted  to  the 
holy  ministry  of  the  altar,  that  they  should 
beware  and  keep  over  themselves  a  constant 


28  LIFE    OF    THE 

watch,  lest  familiarity  might  cause  them  to 
forget  for  one  moment  a  particle  of  that 
respect  due  by  them  to  the  Holy  Sacra- 
ment. 

The  Sainted  Brute,  by  whom  he  was 
tenderly  beloved,  was  his  Professor  of  Philo- 
sophy and  Divinity.  Mr.  Quarter  was  a 
pupil  worthy  his  distinguished  master  ;  and 
the  letters  of  that  master,  from  which  I 
might  quote  were  I  not  anxious  that  this 
memoir  should  be  as  brief  as  possible,  show 
how  high  an  estimate  was  placed  upon  his 
character,  his  talents  and  his  virtues,  by  a 
man  who  knew  well  every  avenue  to  the 
human  heart,  and  who  could  thread  its 
mazes  with  consummate  skill.  Even  after 
Mr.  Quarter  had  been  transplanted  to  an- 
other field,  the  watchful  care,  the  consoling 
acc'ents  of  encouragement,  and  the  sincere 
expressions  of  commendation,  were  bestow- 
ed by  this  good  old  man  upon  his  absent 
pupil,  and  were  never  forgotten  by  ,  him 
who  was  the  object  of  such  solicitude. 

"  Among  all  the  professors  and  students 
he  was  highly  esteemed  for  his  clear  mind, 


RT.    REV.    WM.    QUARTER.  29 

sound  judgment,  gentle  disposition,  firm 
friendship,  and  perfect  devotion ;"  and  he 
loved  these  with  an  affection  so  pure,  that 
amid  all  the  changing  scenes  of  his  life,  too 
apt  generally  to  engender  forgetfulness,  he 
ceased  not  to  remember  them  each  and 
every  one  ;  and  how  his  bright  eye  would 
sparkle  and  his  spirits  become  elated,  when 
he  met  with  any  child  of  that  dear  old 
mountain,  with  whom  he  could  converse  of 
the  days  that  were  past,  and  of  the  men 
who  had  been  called  to  other  scenes  on 
earth,  or  away  to  a  better  world  ;  or  with  one 
who  could  tell  him  of  the  progress  and  pros- 
perity of  that  favourite  institution,  and  the 
tear  would  start  unbidden  to  his  eye,  when 
the  new  names  that  now  filled  the  places 
of  those  he  loved  so  tenderly,  were  repeated, 
calling  up  to  his  mind  the  truthfulness  of 
the  observation,  that  we  are  but  sojourners 
on  this  earth,  where  all  is  change. 

Often  have  I  been  seated  with  him  for 
hours,  forgetting  all  else,  while  we  spoke 
of  the  men  and  things  there — of  the  little 

church  away  up  upon  the  mountain-side — 
3* 


30  LIFE    OF    THE 

of  the  beautiful  valley  that  stretched  out  in 
front  of  it  from  the  base  of  the  Blue-ridge 
and  extended  away  as  far  as  the  eye  could 
reach — of  the  graveyard  and  the  friends  of 
his  that  lay  mouldering  there — of  the  cot- 
tage, and  the  garden,  and  the  grotto,  and 
the  ravine,  bridged  over  by  "  Plunket's 
folly" — of  the  crystal  fountain  bubbling  up 
at  the  mountain's  base,  pure,  sparkling,  and 
bright,  and  distributing  its  liquid  treasures 
— of  the  old  wooden  college  that  has  been 
long  since  removed  and  replaced  by  the 
tall  stone  one,  with  its  majestic  steeple, 
with  its  cross  above  the  clouds  ;  its  terraces 
and  its  trees,  fringing  their  borders — of  the 
hunting  grounds,  and  the  rabbit  dens  and 
their  trappers; — of  the  little  gardens  of  each 
student's  industry,  nestled  like  birds'  nests 
amid  the  tall  trees  upon  the  mountain-side 
— of  these  and  a  thousand  other  topics  that 
may  be  readily  imagined  by  any  one  who 
has  spent  his  college-years  at  Mt.  St.  'Ma- 
ry's. In  this  regard  for  the  memories  of 
those  years,  we  behold  how  unchangeable 


RT.    REV.    WM.    aUARTER.  31 

were  his  affections.     Once  your  friend,  he 
was  "  a  friend  indeed." 

On  the  29th  day  of  October,  in  the  year 
1826,  the  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Dubois  was  con- 
secrated Bishop  of  New- York.  At  his  de- 
parture from  the  institution  which  he  had 
founded,  he  took  with  him  the  exeat  and 
other  papers  committed  to  his  keeping  by 
Mr.  Quarter  when  he  was  received  into 
the  Seminary.  It  was  the  intention  of 
Bishop  Dubois  to  call  him  to  his  own 
diocese  as  soon  as  the  termination  of  his 
course  of  theological  studies  had  been 
reached.  He  did  call  him  ;  and  though  the 
then  Archbishop  of  Baltimore  exerted  him- 
self to  detain  him,  and  though  the  faculty 
of  the  College  made  him  splendid  offers  in 
order  to  prevent  his  departure,  and  to  se- 
cure the  continuance  of  his  services  to  that 
institution,  he  felt  himself  bound  by  the 
ties  of  a  stronger  gratitude  to  his  first 
friend,  and  he  cheerfully  resigned  the 
honours  that  awaited  his  college-life  for 
the  labours  and  privations  of  a  mission 
under  his  benefactor. 


32  LIFE    OF    THE 

On  the  14th  of  September,  1829,  he  left 
the  lovely  retirement  of  his  mountain-home, 
where  he  had  spent  so  many  happy  days, 
for  the  noise  and  bustle  of  the  great  city  of 
New- York,  which  was  to  be  the  theatre  of 
his  ministerial  labours.  "  He  reached  New- 
York  on  Wednesday  evening,  the  16th  of 
the  same  month,  and  on  Thursday  morning, 
the  17th,  he  received  at  the  hands  of  Bishop 
Dubois  the  Clerical  Tonsure,  Minor  Orders, 
and  Sub-deaconship ;  on  Friday  morning, 
the  18th,  Deaconship ;  and  on  Saturday 
morning  he  was  raised  to  the  dignity  of  the 
Priesthood."  Being  under  23  years  of  age 
when  he  was  ordained,  the  sacrament  was 
therefore  conferred  on  him  by  dispensation. 

On  the  day  after  this  ordination,  Bishop 
Dubois  started  for  Europe,  leaving  the 
charge  of  his  diocese  to  the  very  Rev.  Dr. 
Power,  then  Pastor  of  St.  Peter's.  As  ad- 
ministrator, Dr.  Power  took  up  his  residence 
in  the  Bishop's  house,  placing  the  Rev.  Jas. 
Smith  in  the  pastoral  charge  of  his  own 
church.  The  Rev.  William  Quarter  was 
appointed  the  assistant  pastor  of  St.  Peter's, 


RT.    REV.    WM.    QUARTER  33 

receiving  his  clerical  jurisdiction  from  the 
Very  Rev.  Dr.  Power. 

In  the  year  1831  he  determined  to  pay  a 
visit  to  his  Alma  Mater,  Mt.  St.  Mary's. 
Rev.  Mr.  Smith,  being  anxious  that  the 
female  portion  of  the  children  of  his  con- 
gregation should  be  entrusted  to  the  care 
of  the  Sisters  of  Charity,  Rev.  Mr.  Quarter 
determined,  on  his  arrival  at  Emmetsburg, 
to  propose  to  the  Mother  Superioress  at  St. 
Joseph's,  to  send  on  to  New- York  three 
sisters  of  the  order  who  would  take  charge 
of  the  female  free-school  attached  to  St. 
Peter's  Church.  The  proposition  was  fa- 
vourably received,  and  in  the  month  of 
June  of  the  same  year,  the  three  sisters 
asked,  took  charge  of  the  schools.  Sister 
Lucy  Ignatius  was  the  first  sister  servant. 

The  house  first  occupied  by  these  ladies 
was  a  miserably  dilapidated  frame  build- 
ing, directly  opposite  to  the  church,  and  on 
the  very  spot  probably  where  the  splendid 
mansion  recently  erected  for  the  present 
Rev.  Clergy  now  stands.  After  the  lapse 
of  a  year,  they  were  transferred  from  that 


34  LIFE    OP    THE 

shattered  building  to  another  not  much 
better,  which  was  on  the  same  side  with 
the  church  itself,  and  which  was  the  house 
occupied  previously  by  the  clergymen  of 
the  church.  Here  they  lived,  pursuing 
their  mission  of  love  and  mercy,  until  ne- 
cessity compelled  them  to  remove  their 
frame  building  and  erect  another  in  its 
stead.  After  years  of  privation,  they  at  last 
succeeded  in  building  their  present  splendid 
and  spacious  house  on  the  ground  that  was 
sanctified  by  their  early  labours  and  suffer- 
ings. 

On  Wednesday  the  9th  day  of  November, 
in  tolis  year,  the  church  of  St.  Mary  in 
Sheriff-street  was  burned  to  the  ground. 
The  loss  was  a  heavy  one,  "  but  steps  were 
immediately  taken,  (under  the  direction  of 
Rev.  Luke  Berry,  the  pastor  of  old  St.  Ma- 
ry's,) by  some  active  members  of  the  con- 
gregation, to  secure  a  handsome  site  for  a 
new  church."  The  lots  selected  and  pur- 
chased are  those  on  the  corner  of  Grand  and 
Ridge  streets,  upon  which  the  present  church 
of  St.  Mary's  stands. 


RT.    REV.    WM.    QUARTER.  35 

The  congregation  had  many,  (and  to  a  less 
devoted  and  enterprising  people)  almost  in- 
surmountable difficulties  to  overcome,  be- 
fore they  could  again  assemble  under  the 
roof  of  a  church  they  might  call  their  own. 
In  one  month  and  five  days  (Dec.  14th)  after 
the  conflagration  of  St.  Mary's,  and  before 
they  had  recovered  from  that  shock,  a  new 
calamity  befel  the  congregation  in  the  death 
of  their  beloved  pastor.     Thus  the  church 
and  the  pastor,  in  the  space  of  a  few  short 
weeks,  existed  only  in  remembrance.    Still, 
though  the  shepherd  was  smitten,  the  sheep 
were  .not  scattered.  They  laboured  earnest- 
ly in  the   erection   of  their  new   church, 
and  successfully,  until  that  terrible  scourge, 
the  cholera,  broke  out  amongst  them  ;  enter- 
ing their  habitations,  their  storehouses  and 
their  workshops — striking   them  down  in 
the  thronged  marts  of  business,  or  upon  the 
highway — passing  onward  with  its  car  of 
destruction,  and  crushing  beneath  its  wheels 
the  rich  and  the  poor,  the  just  and  the  un- 
just— desolating  cities,  and  making  charnel- 
houses  of  the  populous  habitations  of  men. 


36  LIFE    OF     THE 

The  building  advanced  slowly  during  these 
days  of  affliction,  of  wo,  of  misery,  and  of 
death :  for  as  the  city  was  comparatively 
desolated,  no  means  could  be  collected.  At 
length,  however,  a  brighter  day  dawned : 
the  dark  cloud  that  hovered  so  long  over 
the  devoted  city  was  dispelled,  and  the 
energies  of  the  congregation  were  again 
aroused  to  complete  the  work. 

During  this  period  of  time  when  the 
cholera  was  in  New- York,  Rev.  Wm. 
Quarter  was  still  assistant  pastor  at  St. 
Peter's,  and  here  it  was  that  the  generous 
self-devotion  of  this  truly  Christian  mission- 
ary shone  conspicuous,  and  left  for  him  a 
name  and  a  fame  that  will  not  be  forgotten 
in  that  city  while  the  visitation  of  the  cho- 
lera is  remembered.  From  the  time  of  its 
commencement  until  its  termination  he  was 
always  at  his  post.  Day  and  night  he  la- 
boured constantly  and  unceasingly,  well 
satisfied  if  he  could  snatch  but  three  hours' 
repose  from  the  twenty-four.  If  you 
sought  for  him,  you  would  find  him  now 
in  the  humble  habitation  of  poverty, 


RT.    REV.     WM.    QUARTER.  37 

again   in   the   mansions  of  wealth — every 
place  where  duty  called  him.     Yes,  there 
he  was,  amid  pestilence  and  death,  holding 
the  cup  of  refreshment  to  the  parched  lips 
of  the  sufferer,  when  the  nearest  and  the 
dearest  had  forsaken  him ;  "  wiping  away 
the  clammy  sweat  from  his  sunken  brow, 
fixing  the  dimmed  eye  on  the  sign  of  salva- 
tion,   and   turning   its   expiring   glance  to 
heaven  ;"  or  fortifying  the  departing  spirit 
for  its  gloomy  passage  through  the  gates  of 
death,   with  the  last   sacraments  of   that 
Church,  whose  faith  fortified  his  heart  and 
strengthened  him,  encouraging  him  onward 
in  the  path  of  his  hard  duty,  inspiring  him 
with  a  bravery  far  greater  than  was  ever 
exhibited   by  warrior  on  any  battle-field. 
Truly  has  it  been  said,  that  the  enthusiasm 
of  genius  has  made  poets  and  orators  ;  the 
enthusiasm  of  glory,  conquerors ;    but  the 
enthusiasm  of  charity  inspires  the  humble 
ministers  of  the  faith  taught  to  the  fisher- 
men— of  charity,  which  is  their  morning 
and  evening  sacrifice,  which  is  the  labour 

and  happiness  of  their  entire  lives. 
4 


«>0  LIFE     OF    THE 

Besides  devoting  himself  to  the  victims 
of  disease,  he  gathered  together  the  children 
of  the  dead  members  of  his  flock  to  the 
number  of  about  sixty,  and  placing  them 
under  the  charge  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity, 
freely  gave  all  the  means  he  possessed  for 
their  support. .  O !  how  many  blessings 
would  not  the  pure  prayers  of  these  little 
innocents,  rescued  from  starvation  and 
death,  or  from  a  fate  worse  than  death, 
which  might  have  overtaken  them  had 
they  been  cast  out  upon  a  wicked  world  ; 
how  many  blessings  would  not  the  prayers 
of  these,  I  say,  call  down  upon  the  head  of 
him  who  was  indeed  their  benefactor  !  He 
obtained  for  his  purpose  a  house  from  Cor- 
nelius Heaney,  Esq.,  to  whom  the  orphans 
of  New- York  owe  very  much,  and  who 
afterwards  gave  the  same  house  to  the 
Sisters  of  Charity,  for  the  benefit  of  the 
fatherless.  Here,  guarded  by  a  watchful 
care,  they  were  fed  and  clothed  until  the 
time  when  they  could  safely  take  their 
places  in  the  busy  world. 

Rev.  Mr.  Quarter    resided,  during  this 


RT.    REV.    WM.    QUARTER.  39 

period  of  his  missionary  career,  in  the  house 
of  Mr.  Snowden,  the  publisher  of  the  Courier 
and  Enquirer.  The  great  attention  of  this 
young  ecclesiastic  to  the  people  of  his  flock, 
the  heroic  self-devotion,  and  the  sacrifices 
he  underwent  during  those  days  "  that  tried 
men's  souls,"  produced  so  great  an  impres- 
sion upon  the  minds  of  the  lady  and  family 
of  this  gentleman,  that  she  with  her  three 
daughters  and  two  sons  embraced  the  faith 
that  taught  such  heroism  for  God's  sake. 
Often,  during  the  period  of  that  fearful 
visitation,  did  she  herself  sit  and  watch 
while  the  worn-out  priest  was  resting  his 
exhausted  frame,  so  that  she  might  give 
him  notice  of  the  calls  upon  him. 


40  LIFE    OP    THE 


CHAPTER  III. 

HIS  MISSIONARY  LABOURS  AT    ST.  MARY'S  IN   NEW  YORK, 

1833—1844. 

The  storm  that  had  paralyzed  the  ener- 
gies of  the  congregation  of  St.  Mary's  had 
passed  by,  and  their  church  was  completed. 
It  was  dedicated  on  the  9th  of  June,  in  the 
year  1833,  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Dubois.  At 
the  close  of  the  service,  the  Bishop  announ- 
ced to  the  people  that  Rev.  Win.  Quarter 
was  appointed  by  him  Pastor  of  the  new 
church  of  Saint  Mary's. 

He  continued  the  pastor  of  this  church 
until  his  consecration  for  the  see  of  Chicago. 
Mr.  Quarter  entered  at  once  upon  his  duties 
with  all  the  ardour  of  his  nature,  and  with 
a  view  to  labour  fervently  and  sincerely  for 
the  good  of  the  flock  committed  to  his 
c&re ;  so  that  when  called  to  give  an 
account  of  his  stewardship,  his  Master 
might  be  satisfied  with  him.  He  set  him- 
self at  once  to  work,  in  order  to  remedy  the 
evils  that  existed  among  the  people  of  his 


RT.    REV.    WM.    aUARTER.  41 

new  charge.  The  youths  of  the  congrega- 
tion were  scattered,  and  he  observed  with 
grief  and  affliction  that  they  could  not  be 
collected  for  the  purpose  of  receiving  re- 
ligious instructions  on  Sundays. 

"  He  had  already  the  experience  of  the 
salutary  influence  exercised  over  the  female 
youth  of  the  congregation  of  St.  Peter's 
Church  by  the  Sisters  of  Charity,  and  he  was 
resolved,  if  possible,  to  obtain  them  at  St. 
Mary's.  The  church  was  as  yet,  however, 
struggling  and  much  embarrassed,  and  he 
knew  not  how  he  could  obtain  his  object." 
On  consultation  with  the  trustees,  though 
they  did  not  oppose  him,  yet  they  advised 
him  to  lay  aside  his  purpose  until  some 
future  day,  since  the  expenses  thus  neces- 
sarily to  be  added  would  be  beyond  their 
means. 

Bishop  Dubois,  whom  hr  consulted  re- 
specting the  introduction  of  the  Sisters,  ad- 
vised the  same  course,  owing  to  the  obser- 
vations of  the  trustees  with  respect  to  their 
straitened  circumstances.  But  when  did 

ordinary  difficulties   or  obstructions   deter 

4* 


42  LIFE    OF    THE 

Rev.  William  Quarter  from  undertaking 
and  accomplishing  anything,  if  he  saw 
clearly  that  it  was  for  the  advancement  of 
the  holy  cause  to  which  he  had  consecrated 
his  life  ?  Difficulties  that  would  affright 
ordinary  men  only  stimulated  him  to  more 
energetic  action.  When  any  measure  was 
for  the  benefit  of  religion,  he  fearlessly 
undertook  it,  confident  that  God  would 
watch  over  and  favour  the  issue.  In  this 
matter,  the  conviction  that  his  present  pur- 
pose must  be  accomplished  at  his  own  risk, 
did  not  deter  him  ;  but  he  with  that  spirit  of 
self-sacrifice  which  ever  characterized  him, 
resolved  to  make  the  experiment  even  at 
that  risk.  With  the  consent  of  his  Bishop, 
he  therefore  commenced  on  his  own  respon- 
sibility a  correspondence  with  the  Mother 
Superior  of  the  Sisters  of  Chanty  at  Em- 
metsburg,  the  result  of  which  was,  that  on 
the  first  of  September,  1833,  three  of  the 
ladies  of  this  community  arrived  in  New- 
York  to  take  charge  of  the  free-school  of  St. 
Mary's.  They  were  Sister  Eugene,  Sister 
Servant ;  Sister  Mary,  and  Sister  Pelagia. 


RT*    REV.    WM.    QUARTER.  43 

On  the  arrival  of  the  Sisters,  a  school  was 
immediately  opened.  The  more  respect- 
able Catholics  of  this  and  other  portions  of 
the  city  encouraged  it  by  sending  their 
daughters.  In  addition  to  the  small  salary 
thus  afforded,  the  Sisters  were  allowed  to 
receive  a  few  scholars,  boarders,  whose 
pensions  would  enable  them  to  defray  cur- 
rent expenses.  Many  difficulties  (as  was 
anticipated)  presented  themselves,  and  it 
required  all  the  skill  and  management  of 
Mr.  Quarter  to  be  exerted,  ere  his  under- 
taking ceased  to  be  a  serious  burden  upon 
him  ;  still  that  burden  was  cheerfully  borne, 
until  at  last  his  perseverance  triumphed. 

He  then  directed  the  Sisters  to  throw  the 
school  under  the  church  open  to  all ;  mak- 
ing it  free  for  the  poorest  children  of  his 
little  flock,  and  to  establish  a  select  school 
in  their  own  house.  This  plan  succeeded 
admirably.  The  free  schools  were  fre- 
quented by  a  large  number  of  pupils :  there 
came  daily  at  first  about  one  hundred  pupils, 
which  number  was  soon  increased  to  about 
five  hundred.  The  number  of  the  pupils  in 


t+  LIFE    OP    THE 

the  select  school  averaged  from  seventy  to 
eighty,  and  sometimes  it  reached  one  hun- 
dred. He  had  thus,  in  a  comparatively  brief 
space  of  time,  the  gratification  of  witness- 
ing success  crown  his  efforts. 

*  What  an  appearance  did  these  schools 
now  present !  How  different  from  what 
they  were  a  few  months  before  the  Sisters 
of  Charity  arrived  !  Then  were  male  and 
female  teacher  engaged  in  the  same  room, 
instructing  a  few  squalid  and  dirty-looking 
children,  boys  and  girls  mixing  indiscrimi- 
nately. Now  the  pupils  under  the  charge 
of  the  Sisters  presented  a  different  appear- 
ance :  they  were  orderly  and  decorous  in 
their  behaviour,  and  they  were  the  elements 
of  the  future  congregation  of  St.  Mary's, 
promising  to  grow  up  in  virtue,  and  being 
early  instructed  in  sound  religious  prin- 
ciples." 

When  the  church  of  St.  Mary's  had  sur- 
mounted most  of  her  pecuniary  difficulties, 
the  trustees  added  their  efforts  to  those  of 
their  zealous  pastor,  in  order  to  secure  a 
residence  of  their  own  for  the  Sisters  of 


RT.    REV.    WM.    QUARTER.  45 

Charity.  The  house  which  they  then  occu- 
pied. No.  447  Grand-street,  was  purchased 
for  them. 

Thus  to  the  enterprise  and  perseverance 
of  Rev.  William  Quarter  are  the  congrega- 
tion of  St.  Mary's  indebted  for  the  intro- 
duction among  them  of  the  humble  daugh- 
ters of  Saint  Vincent,  and  for  the  manifold 
and    incalculable     blessings     that    follow 
thence  to  them  and  to  their  children,  and 
to  their  children's  children.     Well  indeed 
may  they   consider  him   their  benefactor. 
He  was  the  benefactor  not  of  the  Catholics 
of  St.  Mary's  only,   but  of  the  whole  city 
— of  the  poor  and  the  orphan  ;  for  he  was 
instrumental  in  establishing  the  first  colony 
of  the  Sisters  of  Charity  at  St.  Peter's  also. 
The  benefits  resulting  to  the  Catholics 
and  to  the  city,  may  be  estimated  in  some 
measure,  when  it  is  remembered  that  the 
child  is  father  of  the  man — that  men  are 
but  children  of  larger  growth  ;  and  that  as 
we  would  have  the  character  of  the  man, 
so  must  we  have  the  character  of  the  child. 
This  truth,   which  the  experience  of  ages 


46  LIFE    OF    THE 

confirms — which  is  written  on  temples  and 
palaces,  on  upturned  altars  and  ruined 
shrines — on  all  the  monuments  of  the  earth 
— in  letters  of  blood  upon  every  page  of  the 
history  of  man — is  so  familiar,  that  it  ceases 
to  command  our  attention. 

"  The  Pastor  of  St.  Mary's  Church,  anx- 
ious for  the  spiritual  advancement  of  the 
congregation  committed  to  his  charge, 
thought  it  advisable,  as  soon  as  convenient, 
to  establish  confraternities  and  pious  sodal- 
ities of  the  Rosary  and  the  Scapular. 
When  the  members  of  a  congregation  are 
attached  to  some  religious  society  or  con- 
fraternity, they  are  more  likely  to  attend 
to  their  religious  obligations.  They  find 
occupation  in  prayer  on  Sundays  and  festi- 
vals, and  other  leisure  hours  ;  whereas  if 
they  were  not  attached  to  such  societies, 
much  of  their  time  might  be  wasted  in  vice 
and  dissipation,  in  slander  and  calumny, 
especially  on  those  days  when  their  worldly 
occupations  do  not  claim  their  attention, 
and  when,  forgetting  that  the  greater  part 
of  these  days  should  be  spent  in  the  service 


RT.    REV.    WM.    QUARTER.  47 

of  God,  they  seem  to  think  they  can  idle 
them  away  or  spend  them  in  frivolous 
amusements  or  in  sin.  The  poor  especially 
experience  much  consolation  in  attaching 
themselves  to  any  pious  sodality  or  confra- 
ternity :  while  the  rich  seldom  attach  them- 
selves to  these  associations.  The  least 
sacrifice  of  ease  or  of  pleasure  seems  too 
much  for  them,  and  hence  it  is  that  their 
souls  grow  cold  in  devotion ;  the  sacra- 
ments even  THAT  the  Church  commands 
them  to  approach  at  least  once  a  year, 
they  neglect,  and  they  seem  to  disregard 
the  penalties  due  their  non-compliance. 

What  a  contrast  the  rich  who  do  not, 
and  the  poor  who  do,  attach  themselves 
to  these  sodalities,  present  in  the  church  on 
Sunday  !  In  the  morning  early  the  poor 
are  devoutly  there  preparing  to  feed  their 
souls  on  the  rich  banquet  of  the  Body 
and  Blood  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  rich  have 
not  as  yet  raised  their  heads  from  off  their 
soft  pillows.  At  the  last  mass,  the  poor 
are  there  fasting,  up  to  the  hour  of  mid- 
day, and  then  too  happy  if  they  be  per- 


48  LIFE    OF    THE 

mitted  to  approach  the  table  of  their  Lord. 
They  press  through  the  dense  mass  of  peo- 
ple, and  prostrate  themselves  before  the 
altar,  their  souls  filled  with  devotion  and 
inflamed  with  divine  love.  The  rich  sit 
in  their  pews  and  look  coldly  and  indiffer- 
ently on  them,  and  appear  like  strangers 
in  the  house  of  their  Lord  and  Master  : 
they  have  no  regard  for  the  spiritual  fa- 
vours and  heavenly  blessings,  gifts  and 
graces  which  God  would  bestow  on  them, 
were  they  faithful. 

At  vespers,  the  poor  are  again  in  the  house 
of  God.  The  seats  of  the  rich  are  empty. 
The  psalm  of  praise  and  the  canticle  of  joy 
is  being  sung  ;  the  rich  join  not  in  the  cho- 
rus ;  the  sacred  melody  has  no  charm  for 
their  ears  ;  and  they  sit,  if  there  at  all,  gazing 
idly,  or  perhaps  ridiculing  those  simple,  pi- 
ous souls  that  are  engaged  in  the  praises  of 
their  God.  Not  now  even  are  the  poor  tired 
of  their  devotions.  Again  they  assemble 
in  the  evening,  to  close  the  day  with  prayer, 
to  read  pious  books,  and  to  recite  the  Ro- 
sary. Thus  it  is  that  the  members  of  the 


RT.    REV.    WM.    QUARTER.  49 

several  religious  societies  now  established 
at  St.  Mary's,  spend  the  Sunday." 

These  lines,  written  by  Bishop  Quarter 
himself,  when  pastor  of  the  congregation  of 
which  he  speaks,  proves,  that  though  "  he 
found  the  parish  overrun  with  vice,"  it  did 
not  continue  long  so  under  his  zealous  and 
watchful  care  :  but  it  became,  for  its  devo- 
tion and  for  its  piety,  an  example  to  the  whole 
city.  They  exhibit  also  to  us  evidences  of 
the  regard  in  which  he  held  the  mother  of 
God,  in  the  efforts  made  to  establish  sodal- 
ities in  her  honour.  And  that  the  same 
tender  regard  for  her  was  entertained  by 
him  to  the  end  of  his  life,  is  evidenced  in  his 
last  Pastoral  Letter,  written  but  a  short  time 
before  his  death.  When  speaking  of  the 
adoption  of  "  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary,  con- 
ceived without  sin,"  as  the  Patroness  of 
the  American  Church,  he  says  : 

"  We  Catholics  are  not  ashamed  to  honour  the  mo- 
ther of  our  Redeemer,  who  is  also  our  mother ;  we 
hesitate  not  to  ask  her  intercession  and  her  prayers 
on  our  behalf  with  her  divine  Son,  knowing  that  they 
will  be  efficacious,  if  the  fault  be  not  our  own.  Jesus 
honoured  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary  in  choosing  her  for 
5 


50  LIFE    OF    THE 

his  mother — and  shall  Christians  not  honour  her  like- 
wise "?  She  has  been  selected  by  God  to  give  birth 
to  the  Saviour  and  the  Redeemer — and  shall  we  be  un- 
mindful of  the  glorious  prerogative  ]  The  angel  of 
God  prophesied  that  all  generations  should  call  Mary 
blessed — and  shall  it  not  be  our  glory  to  contribute  as 
far  as  we  can  to  the  fulfilment  of  this  angelic  pro- 
phecy1? 

"  Our  attachment  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  is  no  ways 
destructive  of,  or  prejudicial  to  our  firm  belief  in  Christ, 
but  rather  an  encouragement  to  it  —  because  it  is 
grounded  on  her  prerogatives,  which  derive  all  their 
lustre  from  Christ,  and  are  only  as  it  were  a  reflection 
of  the  glory  of  the  Son  to  the  mother.  It  is  in  conse- 
quence of  our  steadfast  belief  in  the  divinity  of  Christ, 
that  we  respect  and  honour  the  Blessed  Virgin,  who 
subministered  to  him  her  flesh  in  the  accomplishment 
of  the  mystery  of  the  Incarnation  as  mother  of  God, 
and  that  we  suppose  her  to  have  been  favoured 
with  additional  accumulation  of  graces  to  fit  her 
for  the  sublime  station  to  which  she  had  been  elect- 
ed. The  Son  is  therefore  the  fundamental  cause  of 
all  her  privileges,  and  the  immediate  object  of  our 
veneration ;  and  we  do  not  pretend  to  honour  the 
mother  but  with  reference  to  the  Son,  and  in  him. 
"  There  is  no  question,"  says  St.  Jerome,  "  but 
whatsoever  praise  is  given  to  the  mother,  it  all  re- 
dounds to  the  Son."  Our  devotion  then  to  the  B. 
V.  contributes  to  strengthen  our  faith  in  Christ — be- 
cause upon  the  one  the  other  has  an  essential  de- 
pendence. 

"  Let  the  Sodalities  and  Societies,  in  honour  of 
the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary,  Mother  of  God,  already 


RT.    REV.    WM.    aUARTER.  51 

established  in  many  of  the  churches  and  congrega- 
tions of  this  diocese,  renew  their  fervour,  and  en- 
deavour to  increase  their  numbers.  If  they  are  the 
devout  clients  of  Mary,  the  Mother  of  Jesus,  they 
will  be  beloved  by  her  divine  Son.  Who  is  devout 
to  Mary,  who  has  not  a  supreme  love  and  a  su- 
preme devotion  for  Jesus,  the  Eternal  Word  ?  Who 
despises  the  mother  that  can  still  love  the  Son?" 

His  whole  missionary  career  in  New- York 
was  marked  by  the  same  zealous  efforts  to 
promote  the  welfare  of  his  people,  and  by 
his  unceasing  labours  in  the  faithful  dis- 
charge of  all  his  duties ;  and  he  was  always 
ready  to  respond  to  any  call,  even  without 
the  sphere  of  his  duties,  when  that  call  was 
for  the  promotion  of  the  honour  and  glory 
of  God. 

Among  the  most  brilliant  results  of  his 
teachings  in  St.  Mary's,  was  the  conversion 
of  the  Rev.  John  James  Maximilian  Oertel, 
a  Lutheran  minister  of  New- York  city. 
This  gentleman  was  the  son  of  Professor 
Oertel,  M.  D.,  of  Ansbach,  in  Bavaria.  He 
studied  theology  in  the  University  of  Erlang. 
"After  a  course  of  five  years'  studies  in  this 
University,  he  was  examined  for  holy  orders, 
and  was  soon  ordained  a  minister  of  the 


52  LIFE    OF    THE 

Evangelical  Lutheran  Church.  Being  in- 
vited by  the  Evangelical  Missionary  Society 
of  Barmen,  in  Prussia,  to  preach  the  Gospel 
to  German  protestants  of  the  United  States," 
he  accepted  the  invitation  and  departed  for 
New- York,  whither  he  arrived  in  the  year 
1837. 

To  use  the  words  of  Rev.  Mr.  Oertel  him- 
self:  "  I  was  a  zealous  preacher  of  the  Lu- 
theran doctrines;  for  I  believed  that  the 
Lutheran  Church  alone  was  the  true  Church 
of  Christ."  Again  he  says  :  "Influenced  by 
the  prejudices  of  my  education  at  the  Uni- 
versity, I  believed  that  the  Lutheran  doc- 
trine was  the  same  as  that  taught  by  the 
fathers  of  the  preceding  ages  ;  I  believed 
that  Luther's  doctrine  was  the  same  as  that 
which  Christ  taught  to  his  apostles,  and 
which  they  delivered  to  their  successors. 
********!  believed  that  I  had  learned 
the  sound  doctrine,  and  that  I  had  the  true 
belief.  I  believed,  in  a  word,  that  I  was  a 
member  of  the  Holy  Catholic  Church,  and 
I  clung  to  the  thought  with  the  fondness 
of  a  child  for  its  mother." 


RT.    REV.     WM.    QUARTER.  53 

He  looked  upon  the  holy  fathers  of  the 
early  ages  of  the  Church,  St.  Ambrose,  St. 
Chrysostom,  St.  Augustine,  St.  Bernard, 
&c.,  as  the  witnesses  best  entitled  to  be 
believed  with  respect  to  what  were  the 
teachings  and  the  practices  of  the  early 
Church,  and  no  doubt  ever  harassed  his 
mind,  that  the  doctrine  taught  by  these 
holy  fathers  was  the  same  as  that  preach- 
ed by  himself. 

What  then  must  have  been  the  disap- 
pointment of  a  man  who  clung  thus  ar- 
dently to  the  teachings  of  the  fathers,  to 
find  here  in  this  country,  on  his  arrival, 
these  teachings  disregarded  ; — to  witness 
the  indifference,  the  lukewarmness  and 
the  infidelity  of  those  who  professed  to 
be  the  ministers  and  the  followers  of  the 
great  (?)  Reformer  ! 

Chagrined  and  in  sorrow  at  the  want 
of  unity  in  doctrine  among  the  teachers 
of  the  protestant  belief,  with  whom  he  as- 
sociated in  New- York,  he  resolved  to  visit 
Missouri,  where  the  Lutheran  Bishop,  Dr. 

Stephan,  resided.     He  expected  to  find  in 

5* 


54  LIFE     OF    THE 

him  a  true  professor  of  the  belief  taught 
to  himself  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic. 
But  he  was  disappointed.  Bishop  Stephan 
believed,  as  he  often  told  him,  "  that  the  Lu- 
theran Church  is  extinct,  not  only  in  Germany, 
but  throughout  all  Europe."  How  soon  did 
Mr.  Oertel  find  this  so  !  How  soon  did  he 
realize  the  truth  of  the  charge,  that  "  there 
are  not  three  professors  of  Theology  in  Ger- 
many, who  consent  to  or  agree  with  the  old 
Lutheran  doctrines  as  laid  down  in  the  Lu- 
theran symbolical  books  !" 

In  this  condition  of  things,  it  was  no  won- 
der that  serious  doubts  began  to  disturb  his 
mind,  and  that  anxiety  succeeded  to  doubt ; 
that  the  little  bark,  in  which  his  faith  had 
hitherto  quietly  sailed,  began  to  be  tossed  by 
the  tempest,  and  that  he  began  to  direct 
his  mind  to  the  applying  of  those  marks  by 
which  only  the  true  Church  of  Christ  is  to 
be  recognised. 

It  would  be  out  of  place  here  to  follow 
him  through  the  arguments  he  advances  in 
the  course  of  his  inquiry :  suffice  it  to  say, 
that  in  laying  down  the  marks  of  the  true 


RT.    REV.    WM.    QUARTER.  55 

Church  ; — her  Unity,  her  Sanctity,  her  Ca- 
tholicity and  her  Apostolicity,  as  the  only 
means  whereby  she  could  be  tested,  he  found 
that  his  Lutheran  Church  could  claim  no 
inheritance  of  the  faith  of  the  early  Church, 
and  that,  therefore,  as  these  marks  would 
not  apply  to  her,  she  was  not  the  true  Church. 
Arrived  at  this  point  of  his  inquiry,  he 
was  tossed  like  a  vessel 

"  On  a  sea  of  dreams, 

Her  helm  of  reason  lost ;" 

and  for  a  time  he  balanced  between  Chris- 
tianity and  infidelity,  between  hope  and 
despair  ! 

"  Oh,  it  would  be  difficult  to  describe,'? 
says  he,  "  my  feelings  at  the  eventful  mo- 
ment when  I  became  convinced  that  I  was 
not  a  member  of  the  true  Church.  Could 
I  have  persuaded  myself  that  it  was  only  a 
dream,  and  that  the  illusion  would  pass 
away  as  soon  as  I  awoke,  what  a  consola- 
tion would  it  have  been  to  my  agitated 
mind,  and  to  my  bleeding  soul  !  But  I  could 
not  do  so.  The  vizard  was  now  lifted,  and 
1  shuddered  at  the  sight  of  what  it  had  so 


56  LIFE    OF    THE 

carefully  concealed  from  my  view."  Oer- 
tel's  Reasons  for  becoming  a  Catholic,  p.  24. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  accident  made 
him  acquainted  with  the  pastor  of  St.Mary's, 
Rev.  Wm.  Quarter ;  and  the  kind,  affable 
and  gentlemanly  manners  of  this  zealous 
priest  so  captivated  Mr.  Oertel,  that  he 
opened  to  him  his  heart.  "  Rev.  Mr.  Quar- 
ter cheerfully  extended  his  hand,"  says 
he,  "  to  support  my  weakness,  and  gave 
his  advice  to  cheer  my  mind."  He  fur- 
nished him  with  works  which  explained 
correctly  the  Catholic  doctrines  and  prac- 
tices, and  he  elucidated  whatever  might 
seem  obscure.  Mr.  Oertel  was  a  finished 
scholar,  and  an  excellent  theologian,  and 
was  the  very  man  able  to  detect  an  er- 
ror in  the  instructions  thus  imparted  to 
him,  if  one  existed.  He  had  already  de- 
tected the  errors  in  his  former  belief,  and 
was  now  the  more  alive  to  the  possi- 
bility of  deceptions,  particularly  in  the 
teachings  of  a  Church  upon  which  he  had 
hitherto  looked  with  aversion. 

But  he  applied  to  this  Church  the  marks 


RT.    REV.    WM.    QUARTER.  57 

by  which  he  knew  that  her  claims  to  au- 
thority were  to.  be  tested.  The  mark  of 
unity  could  be  applied  to  her  for  "  all  her 
members  agree  in  one  faith,  are  all  in  one 
communion,  and  are  all  under  one  head." 
The  mark  of  sanctity  could  be  applied  to 
her :  for  "  she  teaches  a  holy  doctrine,  in- 
vites all  to  a  holy  life,  and  is  distinguished  by 
the  eminent  sanctity  of  so  many  thousands 
of  her  children."  The  mark  of  Catholicity 
could  be  applied  to  her  :  for  "  she  teaches 
all  nations,  extends  through  all  ages,  and 
maintains  all  truth."  The  mark  of  Aposto- 
licity  applies  to  her :  "  because  from  the 
apostles  has  she  received  her  doctrine,  her 
orders,  and  her  mission." 

Yes,  he  found  that  to  that  Church,  which 
was  ever  the  same  ;  which  though  king- 
doms and  empires,  and  states  and  people, 
have  risen  up  and  faded  away,  was  herself 
unchangeable  ;  which  teaches  now  the  same 
doctrine  taught  by  her  divine  Founder  on  the 
shores  of  the  sea  of  Galilee,  and  which  she 
will  teach  until  the  end  of  time  ;  that  to 
that  Church  only  would  these  marks  apply  ; 


58  LIFE    OF    THE 

and,  resting  his  fevered  temples  upon  that 
holy  mother's  bosom,  beneath  which  throb- 
bed the  fountain  of  a  vitality,  as  enduring 
as  the  word  of  God,  he  wept  for  very  joy, 
that  he  had  at  last  found  the  secure  haven, 
wherein  he  could  anchor  the  frail  bark  of 
his  mortality,  regardless  of  the  storms  that 
might  howl  and  the  waves  that  might  dash 
against  her  with  their  broken  fury,  until 
the  coming  of  the  bright  day,  when  he  might 
plant  his  ransomed  feet  upon  the  shores  of 
that  land  which  is  within  the  walls  of  the 
heavenly  paradise. 

Mr.  Oertel  is  still  living  in  the  city  of 
Baltimore,  where  he  edits  a  Catholic  Ger- 
man newspaper.  Dear  to  him  must  be 
the  memory  of  Bishop  Quarter,  through 
whose  instrumentality,  under  God,  he  be- 
came reconciled  to  that  Church,  which  en- 
sures him  the  prospect  of  meeting  again  his 
earthly  mediator  in  heaven. 


RT.    REV.    WM.    QUARTER.  59 


CHAPTER  IV. 

FROM  HIS  CONSECRATION  FOR  THE  SEE  OF  CHICAGO 
UNTIL  THE  END  OF  THE  FIRST  YEAR  OF  HIS  EPISCO- 
PAL LABOURS,  1844 — 1845. 

The  Provincial  Council  that  assembled 
in  Baltimore  in  May,  1843,  finding  that  from 
the  very  great  spread  of  the  Catholic  Church 
several  additional  Bishops  were  necessary, 
passed  a  decree  recommending  the  forma- 
tion of  the  New  Sees  of  Chicago,  Illinois  ; 
Little  Rock,  Arkansas  ;  Hartford,  Connecti- 
cut ;  and  Milwaukie,  Wisconsin  ;  and  the 
Apostolic  Vicarate  of  Oregon  Territory. 
The  recommendation  of  this  Council  was 
immediately  acted  upon  by  the  court  of 
Rome  :  and  accordingly,  in  the  February  of 
the  following  year  (1844),  the  Apostolic 
letters  for  the  consecration  of  the  three 
new  Bishops,  who  were  to  be  taken  from 
New- York,  arrived  in  that  city  ;  and  on  the 
10th  of  March,  1844,  these  gentlemen  were 
consecrated  in  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral,  by 
the  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  John  Hughes,  Bishop  of 


60  LIFE    OF    THE 

New- York,  assisted  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  Dr. 
Fen  wick,  Bishop  of  Boston,  and  Rt.  Rev. 
Dr.  Whelan,  Bishop  of  Richmond.  The 
new  Bishops  were  :  Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Quarter, 
for  the  Diocese  of  Chicago ;  Rt.  Rev.  Andrew 
Byrne,  for  the  Diocese  of  Little  Rock  ;  and 
Rt.  Rev.  John  McCloskey,  now  Bishop  of 
Albany,  Coadjutor  Bishop  of  New- York. 
The  ceremony  of  the  consecration  was  pro* 
bably  one  of  the  most  magnificent  specta- 
cles ever  witnessed  by  the  Catholics  of  the 
empire  city. — The  Freeman's  Journal  thus 
describes  it : 

"  At  half  past  nine  o'clock  precisely,  the  sacred 
procession  left  the  sacristy,  and  passing  along  the 
raised  dais  outside  the  sanctuary,  entered  in  front 
of  the  great  altar.  First  went  the  Acolytes,  Thu- 
rifer,  and  the  Seminarians  of  St.  John's,  followed 
by  several  clergymen  of  New- York,  Brooklyn,  Jer- 
sey City,  and  other  parts  of  the  diocese,  with  a  few 
from  Emmetshurg  College  ;  next  were — the  Senior 
Assistant  Bishop  with  his  chaplain  and  attendant ; 
the  three  Bishops  elect — Right  Rev.  ANDREW  BYRNE, 
Right  Rev.  WILLIAM  QUARTER,  and  Right  Rev. 
JOHN  MCCLOSKEY,  with  their  chaplains  and  atten- 
dants ;  the  other  Assistant  Bishop,  with  his  chaplain 
and  attendant;  then  the  Master  of  Ceremonies,  the 
Deacon  and  Sub-Deacon,  Assistant  Priest,  and  othei 


RT.    REV.    WM.    QUARTER.  61 

attendants  of  the  consecrator ;  the  procession  being 
closed  by  the  consecrator,  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop 
of  New- York.  The  clergy  were  in  their  chasubles 
or  thoir  surplices  ;  the  Bishop  elect  in  amict.  alb. 
cincture,  stole  and  cope,  and  wearing  the  small  cap 
common  to  the  clergy  ;  the  Assistant  Bishops  in  ro- 
chets, stoles,  copes  and  mitres,  and  the  consecra- 
tor in  full  pontificals  —  rochet,  stole,  cope,  mitre, 
crozier,  &c.  The  vestments  of  the  consecrator  and 
his  attendants  were  of  the  richest  description,  and 
literally  dazzled  the  eye.  The  mitres  and  copes  of 
the  Assistant  Bishops  were  also  distinguished  for 
their  beauty,  as  was  the  case  with  the  vestments  of 
the  clergy  generally.  As  the  procession  moved 
slowly  forward,  its  numbers,  splendour,  and  magni- 
ficence of  array — chasubles  and  copes  and  mitres 
glittering  in  the  light — presented  a  brilliant  and  im- 
posing spectacle. 

"  Many  of  the  clergy  and  seminarians  (the  latter 
particularly)  had  not  room  in  the  sanctuary,  and 
were  in  attendance  in  the  sacristy,  with  or  without 
their  cassocks.  Altogether,  the  number  of  clergy 
and  seminarians  present  during  the  day  could  not 
have  been  far  from  seventy  ;  and  to  the  Catholic 
heart  it  must  have  been  not  the  least  consoling  of 
the  many  reflections  suggested  by  the  occasion, 
that  from  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  this  one 
city,  so  many  ecclesiastics  and  religious  could  be 
assembled,  and  without  withdrawing  from  a  single 
congregation  the  opportunities  of  divine  service  in 
their  own  church.  Surely  such  an  abundance  of 
labourers  promises  well  for  the  gathering  in  of  the 
harvest  in  this  great  diocese  !  God  grant  it ! — say  we. 
6 


62  LIFE    OF    THE 

"  The  ceremony  then  proceeded,  as  described  with 
considerable  minuteness  in  this  paper  last  week,  un- 
til the  end  of  the  Gospel,  where  the  Preacher  of 
the  Consecration  Sermon,  the  Very  Rev.  JOHN  POW- 
ER, D.  D.,  having  given  the  usual  salutation  to 
the  Consecrator,  ascended  the  pulpit  and  commen- 
ced his  discourse. 

"  At  Vespers  in  the  evening,  the  church  was  al- 
most as  densely  crowded  as  in  the  morning.  The 
discourse  was  delivered  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Pise.  Five 
of  the  Bishops  and  most  of  the  clergy  were  present ; 
and  as  they  sat  in  the  Sanctuary,  the  Pontificals  of 
the  Bishops  and  the  Vestments  of  the  Priests  shin- 
ing in  the  lights  which  burned  around,  the  observe* 
recalled  involuntarily  what  the  historians  of  the 
time  tell  of  the  magnificence  of  the  famous  "  Field 
of  the  Cloth  of  Gold."  The  Vespers  were  over  at 
about  half  past  nine,  P.  M. 

"  Thus  passed  and  terminated  a  day,  which,  in 
no  spirit  of  vain  words  we  say,  will  be  not  only 
long  memorable  in  this  diocese,  but  will  be  remark- 
able in  the  annals  of  Catholicism  in  the  United 
States ;  remarkable  that  it  witnessed  a  ceremony 
without  parallel  for  splendour  and  importance  in  this 
country,  the  .Consecration  of  three  Bishops,  two  of 
them  for  new  Sees  ;  remarkable,  that  it  assembled 
more  of  the  worth  and  dignity  of  our  American 
Church  than  has  ever  before  been  brought  together, 
except  at  the  grand  Councils  of  the  entire  Province, 
six  Bishops  and  nearly  fifty  Priests ;  remarkable, 
also,  in  a  higher  sense,  that  it  was  a  day  significant 
of  past  progress  and  future  promise,  speaking  to 
the  Catholic  heart  with  silent  but  thrilling  eloquence 


RT.    REV.    WM.    QUARTER.  63 

of  great  triumphs  achieved,  and  of  those  still  great- 
er, GOD  willing,  yet  to  be  accomplished  :  and  re- 
calling to  it  irresistibly  the  consoling  conviction 
that  the  Promise  of  the  New  Covenant  is  eternal 
with  the  Church,  and  that  those  spiritual  princes 
whom  she  on  that  day  sent  forth,  went  of  a  surety 
"  CONQUERING  AND  TO  CONQUER  ;"  remarkable,  in 
fine,  that  it  was  a  day  which,  long  years  hence — 
when  those  who  performed  and  those  who  received 
the  august  rite,  and  those  who  looked  on  breath- 
less with  awe  at  the  mystery  before  them,  shall 
have  passed  away,  and  save  a  few,  been  all  forgot- 
ten— when,  as  we  trust  in  God  it  will  be,  the  mists  of 
error  now  darkening  our  well-loved  land  shall  have 
disappeared  before  the  ascending  Sun  of  Righteous- 
ness, and  His  Church  shall  have  won  over  to  her 
sway  of  love  all  the  tongues  and  races  within  the 
republic,  so  that  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Missis- 
sippi, and  from  the  Mississippi  to  the  Pacific  shore, 
there  shall  be  but  one  faith  for  one  nation  of  free, 
enlightened  and  happy  Americans  —  a  day  which 
then  the  Catholic  historian  will  love  to  dwell  upon 
with  delight,  and  record  upon  his  glowing  page,  as 
the  advent  of  one  of  the  many  bright  eras  which 
(please  GOD)  will  illustrate  the  history  of  the  Church 
of  CHRIST  in  the  New  World." 

Hard  must  have  been  the  struggle 
to  the  sensitive,  Bishop  Quarter,  when  oblig- 
ed to  tear  himself  away  from  his  faithful 
flock  of  St.  Mary's,  who  had  woven  them- 
selves around  his  heart,  by  whom  he  was 


64  LIFE     OF    THE 


so  tenderly  beloved,  and  among  whom  he 
had  laboured  so  long,  and  so  successfully. 
Though  his  good  father,  Bishop  Dubois, 
was  gone  to  the  bosom  of  his  God,  yet 
from  his  successor  in  the  episcopal  chair 
of  New- York,  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Hughes,  (a  scion 
from  that  noble  tree  that  Bishop  Dubois 
planted  at  the  foot  of  the  Blue  Ridge)— 
it  cost  his  heart  a  pang  to  separate.  Still 
duty,  and  the  honour  and  glory  of  God, 
bade  him  forsake  all  things  for  Christ's  sake, 
and  go  again  among  the  strangers  for  his 
resting  place. 

He  was  anxious  to  enter  without  delay 
upon  the  field  of  his  labours,  where 
the  harvest  was  fast  ripening,  and  lest 
one  ear  might  drop,  or  be  lost  from  neg- 
lect. Accordingly,  on  the  18th  of  April, 
accompanied  by  his  brother,  Very  Rev. 
Walter  J.  Quarter,  he  departed  from  New- 
York  for  Chicago,  where  he  arrived  on  Sun- 
day morning,  May  the  5th.  Though  fa- 
tigued and  weary  from  his  long  and  very 
tedious  journey,  like  a  general  on  the 


RT.    REV.    WM.    QUARTER.  65 

field  of  battle,  he  was  at  once  at  his  post, 
and  no  personal  considerations  could  induce 
this  faithful  servant  of  God  to  neglect  for 
a  moment  his  duty.  On  the  day  of  his 
arrival,  he  said  mass  in  the  old  church 
and  preached  in  the  new  one. 

The  old  church  was  a  long  low  frame 
building,  having  upon  it  a  small  steeple 
and  bell.  It  was  on  the  lot  directly  in  the 
rear  of  the  Bishop's  dwelling.  This  build- 
ing has  been  since  divided :  one  half  being 
used  as  the  Academy  of  St.  Joseph,  the 
preparatory  department  of  the  University 
of  St.  Mary  of  the  Lake.  The  other  half 
was  removed  to  the  rear  of  the  new  church, 
to  be  used  by  the  Sisters,  of  Mercy  for  their 
free  school. 

The  new  church,  then  unfinished,  is  the 
present  cathedral.  At  that  time  the  brick 
walls  of  the  church  were  merely  roofed,  and 
'  four  posts  stood  upright  where  the  steeple 
now  stands.  "  The  building  was  not  plas- 
tered ;  a  temporary  altar  was  stuck  up 

against  the  western  wall.      There  was  no 
6* 


66  LIFE    OF    THE 

vestry ;  the  sanctuary  was  enclosed  with 
rough  boards  ;  the  children  were  seated  on 
benches,  on  each  side,  where  the  vestries 
are  now.  —  There  were  neither  columns, 
nor  steps,  nor  doors,  (except  temporary  ones 
made  of  rough  boards  ;)  and  worse  than  all, 
even  that  much  of  a  church  was  burdened 
with  about  three  thousand  dollars  of  debt. 
Add  to  this,  that  on  the  adjoining  lot,  where 
the  Convent  of  Mercy  now  stands,  the  whole 
purchase-money,  about  1000  dollars,  was 
unpaid,  as  also  four  hundred  dollars  on  the 
grave-yard.  Thus  there  was  near  five 
thousand  dollars  debt  contracted  by  his 
predecessors,  and  some  of  this  debt  bear- 
ing interest  at  from  10  to  12  per  cent.,"  was 
left  as  a  legacy  to  the  new  Bishop  of  Chi- 
cago !  With  an  unfinished  church,  and  a 
poor  congregation,  and  such  a  debt,  what  a 
prospect  had  he  !  Dark  and  dreary  enough 
it  must  have  been,  but  there  was  before  him 
a  bright  star,  beckoning  him  and  alluring 
him  onward  ;  and  with  his  eye  steadily  fix- 
ed on  that  hope-star,  he  faltered  not. 


RT.    REV.    WM.    aUARTER.  67 

Such  was  the  condition  of  the  church  of 
Chicago,  when  Bishop  Quarter  took  posses- 
sion of  his  see.  How  different  was  the  state 
of  affairs,  that  day  on  which  he  stood  for  the 
last  time  in  the  pulpit  of  his  beautiful 
church,  when  the  mellow  tones  of  the  mag- 
nificent organ  were  re-echoed  by  the  lofty 
domes  and  the  spacious  aisles,  filling  all  the 
hearts  that  came  there  to  treasure  up  his 
burning  words  with  hopes  of  the  enjoy- 
ment of  heavenlier  strains,  when  the  choirs 
above  will  take  up  the  chant,  intoned  be- 
low, and  continue  it  forever  around  the 
throne  of  the  Invisible. 

He  considered  it  impossible  that  the  con- 
gregation of  St.  Mary's  in  Chicago  could  at 
that  time  pay  the  debt  upon,  and  finish 
their  church,  and  therefore  he  and  his  brother 
having  united  their  funds,  paid  it  with  their 
own  private  means.  His  generous-hearted 
flock  followed  this  noble  example.  The 
city  was  divided  into  districts  ;  proper  col- 
lectors were  appointed ;  and  so-harmoniously 
and  suscessfully  did  they  labour,  that  in  about 
a  year  they  had  the  happiness  of  kneeling 


68  LIFE    OF    THE 

before  the  new  altar  in  their  finished  church, 
whose  glittering  spire  and  golden  cross  re- 
flect the  first  rays  of  the  morning  sun,  as 
it  rises  out  of  the  bosom  of  the  broad  and 
beautiful  lake  Michigan. 

This  was  the  first,  and  at  that  time  the 
only  steeple  in  Chicago  ;  and  its  cross,  the 
emblem  of  man's  salvation,  perched  upon 
the  summit  of  that  steeple,  is  the  first  object 
that  presents  itself  to  the  traveller  approach- 
ing the  harbour  from  the  lakes,  or  far  away 
upon  the  prairie,  as  his  eye  rests  upon  the 
"  city  of  the  plain."  But  it  is  no  longer  the 
only  one  :  for  several  beautiful  steeples  and 
spires  now  adorn  the  different  churches ; 
yet  of  all  these,  St.  Mary's  (true  to  her 
heavenly  origin)  is  the  only  one  that  is 
not  ashamed  to  rear  on  high  that  sign  which 
will  be  the  sign  of  victory — of  the  triumph 
of  the  Son  of  man,  when  he  comes  in  the 
clouds  of  heaven  to  judge  the  world  ! 

Previous  to  the  erection  of  the  new  see 
of  Chicago,  the  greater  part  of  the  state  of 
Illinois  had  been  under  the  episcopal  juris- 
diction of  the  Bishop  of  Vincennes,  in  the 


RT.    REV.    WM.    QUARTER.  69 

State  of  Indiana.  The  clergymen  in  this 
district  therefore  belonged  to  that  diocese. 
As  soon  as  it  was  known  that  his  episcopal 
power  in  Illinois  was  about  to  be  superseded, 
the  Bishop  of  Vincennes  recalled  all  his 
priests  from  the  diocese  of  Chicago.  They 
obeyed  immediately,  excepting  four  who 
were  unwilling  to  leave  unprotected  the 
children  committed  to  their  spiritual  charge, 
as  they  must  in  that  case  (having  no  pastors) 
have  been  for  a  long  time  deprived  of  the 
consolations  of  their  holy  religion. 

Two  of  these  gentlemen  were  Rev.  Mau- 
rice de  Saint  Palais,  the  present  worthy 
Bishop  of  Vincennes,  and  Rev.  Mr.  Fischer, 
and  they  were*  the  only  officiating  clergy- 
men in  Chicago  on  the  arrival  of  Bishop 
Quarter.  Much  service  as  they  might 
have  rendered  to  the  new  Bishop,  their  stay 
with  him  was  but  short  indeed ;  for  early 
in  the  month  of  June  their  immediate  re- 
turn to  the  diocese  of  Vincennes  was  com- 
manded, their  Bishop,  suspending  their  func- 
tions until  they  obeyed.  Bishop  Quarter 
could  obtain  neither  mitigation  of  the  pe- 


70  LIFE   OF  THE 

nalty,  nor  privilege  for  them  to  remain 
with  him  any  time.  They  were,  therefore, 
obliged  to  depart,  and, to  leave  him  without 
a  priest  to  watch  over  the  districts  in 
which  they  had  officiated.  This  was  a 
great  and  unexpected  difficulty,  but,  like 
every  other  that  beset  his  path,  it  was  met 
resolutely. 

He  was  soon  able,  however,  to  add  to  his 
priests,  and  before  the  end  of  the  month  of 
June  he  had  ordained  three,  among  whom 
was  the  present  distinguished  V.  President 
of  the  University  of  St.  Mary's  of  the  Lake, 
Very  Rev.  Jeremiah  A.  Kinsella. 

On  the  5th  of  May,  as  we  have  seen, 
Bishop  Quarter  arrived  in  Chicago,  and  on 
the  third  of  June  he  opened  the  new  Catho- 
lic College,  the  germ  of  the  present  Univer- 
sity, in  the  building  formerly  occupied  as 
the  old  church.  This  establishment  com- 
menced with  two  professors  and  six  stu- 
dents. 

He  was  ever  a  most  liberal  patron  of 
education,  considering  that  among  his  first 
duties  he  should  provide  means  for  that 


RT.    REV.     WM.    aUARTER.  71 

end.  Not  for  that  education  which  the 
world  generally  dignifies  with  the  title  ;  but 
for  an  education  by  which  the  mental  and 
the  moral  man  would  be  cultivated  to- 
gether ;  in  which  the  being  would  be  taught 
to  consider  the  instructions  of  this  life  as 
merely  the  means  for  obtaining  the  great 
end  for  which  we  were  all  created. 

There  is  a  physiological  law  which 
teaches,  that  Practice  or  Repetition  is  es- 
sential to  induce  facility  of  mental  and 
moral,  as  well  as  of  bodily  action ;  and, 
therefore,  in  mental  and  moral  education 
this  fact  is  so  important,  that  it  should  be 
engraven  on  the  heart  of  every  one  inter- 
ested in  the  welfare  of  society.  It  is  only 
by  repetition,  that  impressions  can  be  made 
upon  the  mind,  so  as  to  render  them  per- 
manent. A  truth  may  be  enunciated  ;  but 
it  is  only  by  repetition  that  it  escapes 
oblivion.  As  no  accomplishment  can  be 
attained  by  a  single  effort,  so,  when  the 
mind  is  engaged  upon  any  new  subject,  it 
is  only  by  study,  viz.,  by  repeating,  that  it 
is  mastered. 


72  LIFE    OF    THE 

The  extent  to  which  this  law  of  repeti- 
tion effects  the  intellectual  and  moral  con- 
dition of  the  world,  has  not  been  properly 
estimated ;  and  though  I  cannot  enter  fully 
into  the  subject  in  a  work  of  this  kind,  yet 
I  cannot  pass  it  unnoticed  altogether,  and, 
when  writing  respecting  the  foundation  of 
a  College  for  the  purposes  of  education,  I 
will  be  pardoned,  I  hope,  the  digression. 

If  we  would  be  kind,  sociable,  polite,  &c., 
&c.,  we  must  be  always  so,  whether  in  pri- 
vate or  in  public.  If  we,  in  the  retirement 
of  our  homes,  indulge  in  habits  or  in  lan- 
guage mat  we  would  hide  from  the  world's 
eye  and  ear,  we  will  betray  ourselves  ofte'n 
when  we  do  not  expect  it.  Therefore  it  is, 
that  with  all  his  efforts  to  appear  genteel, 
an  ill-bred  or  a  profane  man,  will,  in  spite  of 
all  his  watchfulness,  betray  his  accustomed 
associations ;  for  the  habit,  which  has  grown 
with  his  growth,  and  strengthened  with  his 
strength,  cannot  be  controlled.  As  are 
those  associations,  such  will  be  the  charac- 
ter of  the  man  for  life  ;  and  for  the  one  that 
rises  above  the  vicious  associations  of  early 


RT.    REV.     WM.    QUARTER.  73 

years,  ten  thousand  sink  into  the  depths  of 
sin  and  infamy,  so  low,  that  there  is  no  es- 
cape for  them  but  through  the  gates  of 
death.  Thus  it  comes  that  our  cities,  dense- 
ly populated,  are  filled  with  wretches,  fit 
ministers  for  every  crime.  They  have  never 
known  what  virtue  is — they  have  grown 
up  in  the  haunts  where  thieves  and  gam- 
blers and  drunkards  congregate; — where 
cunning,  cheating,  and  beastly  gratification 
hold  their  empire ; — where  no  warning 
voice  is  ever  raised  in  behalf  of  honesty  or 
piety,  or  against  the  bad  example  set  before 
them.  As  these  vices  are  daily  held  up 
before  their  eyes,  they  become  practised, 
and,  in  accordance  with  the  principle 
laid  down,  by  the  repetition,  increase 
upon  them,  until  they  swallow  up  every 
virtuous  sentiment  that  God  may  have  im- 
planted in  their  hearts,  and  that,  watered 
by  the  careful  hand  of  innocence,  might 
have  produced  fruit  ripening  for  immor- 
tality. 

If  these   individuals    had  been  blessed 
7 


74  LIFE    OF    THE 

with  the  privilege  of  better  associations, 
with  the  temperate,  the  honourable,  the 
virtuous,  the  same  law  of  repetition  would 
have  so  strengthened  them,  as  to  have  en- 
abled them  to  stand  firm  against  the  seduc- 
tions that  beset  their  early  years,  and  that 
lie  like  pit-falls  all  around  their  pathway 
through  life. 

It  is  passing  strange,  that,  with  the  evi- 
dences daily  and  hourly  staring  us  in  the 
face,  that  appeals  to  the  intellect  will 
never  fix  permanently  a  high  moral  feeling 
or  course  of  education,  we  should  be  so 
negligent  of  the  fact  thus  demonstrated,  that 
it  is  the  brain  we  cultivate,  and  not  the  im- 
material principle,  mind.  When  we  wish 
to  accomplish  either  of  the  purposes  of 
which  I  have  just  spoken,  we  do  what  scarce 
any  one  is  aware  we  do,  viz.,  we  exercise 
the  brain.  How  long  would  it  be  before 
appeals  to  the  intellect  would  convert  thp 
hardened  heart  from  its  wickedness  !  But 
if  the  feelings  of  kindness,  of  love  and  of 
sympathy,  may  have  been  early  exercised 
until  they  are  easily  called  up  from  the 


RT.    REV.     WM.    QUARTER.  75 

great  deep  in  which  years  had  entombed 
them,  how  readily  do  appeals  for  this  pur- 
pose find  their  way  to  the  heart  and  pro- 
duce abundant  harvest !  And  yet  we  never 
think  but  that  the  harvest  springs  imme- 
diately from  the  edge  of  the  sickle  that  is 
gathering  it ;  we  never  think  that  the  seed 
must  have  been  long  sown ;  that  the  germ 
must  have  grown ;  that  the  husbandman 
merely  gathers  what  some  other  hand 
planted. 

From  the  very  savage  that  prowls 
through  our  forests,  or  hunts  the  deer  and 
the  buffalo  upon  our  far-away  prairies,  we 
might  learn  wisdom.  If  he  wishes  the 
young  warrior  he  is  rearing  to  distinguish 
the  sound  of  the  footstep  of  his  foe,  he  does 
not  merely  point  out  the  way  he  should 
listen,  lay  down  the  rules,  &c.,  but  he  di- 
rects him  to  put  his  ear  to  the  ground,  and 
by  the  effect  produced  upon  a  material 
organ,  by  the  exercise  of  that  organ  until 
it  is  capable  of  distinguishing  those  sounds, 
does  he  train  him.  If  he  wishes-  him  to 
excel  in  the  various  accomplishments  of 


76  LIFE    OF    THE 

savage  life— in  lying  in  wait — in  ambush — 
in  daring  attack — in  courage — in  contempt 
of  pain — of  fatigue — in  revenge — he  prac- 
tises him  in  the  same  manner  by  the  exer- 
cise of  the  material  instrument,  until  he  is 
worthy  to  become  a  chief  of  his  tribe  ;  and 
yet  if  we  reflect  but  one  moment,  we  will 
be  satisfied  that  it  is  the  mind,  which  thus 
manifests  itself  through  its  exercised  ma- 
terial organ,  and  accomplishes  his  purpose. 
Thus  should  it  be  with  us.  If  we  wish 
our  children  to  excel  in  the  accomplish- 
ments of  civilized  life — if  we  wish  them  to 
be  modest,  humble,  virtuous  in  the  most 
extended  sense, — a  solace  to  our  gray  hairs, 
we  must  exercise  and  cultivate  in  them  the 
virtues  we  wish  them  to  possess.  WE  MUST 

MAKE    THIS    EXERCISE     A    PART     OF    THEIR    DAILY 

LIFE.  We  must  educate  the  conscience  ; — 
we  must  educate  all  the  feelings,  in  order 
that  they  may  become  the  sources  of  happi- 
ness here,  and  of  hope  hereafter.  We  will 
then  learn  how  much  easier  it  is  to  practise 
virtue  than  vice  ; — how  much  easier  it  will 
be  to  make  the  world  a  better  place. 


RT.    REV.    WM.    QUARTER.  77 

Man  does  not  come  from  the  hand  of  his 
Creator  necessarily  vicious,  he  is  made  so 
by  an  erroneous  education ;  and  if  we 
would  remedy  this  error,  we  must  search 
for  its  source,  and  we  will  find  that  it  is  in 
the  ignorance  of  the  fact,  that  the  virtues 
must  be  cultivated  as  well  as  the  physical 
organs,  in  order  that  they  should  be  vi- 
gorous. 

How  erroneous  then  is  that  course  of 
education  which  excludes  religious  train- 
ing;— which  appeals  to  the  intellect  only, 
and  not  to  the  moral  and  religious  senti- 
ments and  affections  !  Many,  it  is  true, 
both  schools  and  parents,  profess  to  give 
their  pupils  and  children  religious  in- 
structions ;  but  it  is  by  moral  precepts 
which  appeal  to  the  intellect  only,  and 
which  are  uttered  only  to  be  forgotten  ; 
may  be  are  contradicted  by  the  practice 
which  alone  can  make  them  permanent. 

What  I  contend  for  is  the  necessity  of  the 
'daily  repetition  of,  or  education  in  vir- 
tuous practices ;  and  in  the  practical  edu- 
cation of  the  young,  it  becomes  a  matter  of 
7* 


78  LIFE    OF    THE 

the  highest  moment,  to  remember  that  the 
moral  sentiments  and  the  intellectual  pro- 
cesses are  absolutely  dependent  on  the  phy- 
sical organization,  and  require  that  daily 
cultivation  as  much  as  any  of  the  physical 
operations  of  the  body.  How  absurd  then 
to  expect,  that  the  moral  instruction  given 
on  one  day  in  the  seven,  is  sufficient  to 
counteract  the  immoral  impressions  that 
are  likely  to  be  made  on  the  other  six  days ! 
We  cannot,  therefore,  sufficiently  cherish 
those  institutions  that  combine  religious 
training  with  the  intellectual.  They  are  the 
only  props  that  sustain  society  against 
the  deluge  of  indifferentism  and  infidelity, 
that  is  sweeping  over  the  land.  Thank 
God  !  that  in  the  Catholic  Church  are  to  be 
found  societies  of  men  and  women  who  de- 
vote their  lives  to  this  noble  enterprise  ! 

When  we  look  to  the  future  as  well  as 
to  the  present ;  to  the  children  and  to  the 
children's  children,  that  will  be  saved  from 
everlasting  perdition,  (to  say  nothing  of  the 
bad  example  their  evil  course  would  have 
given,  and  of  its  effects  upon  the  world,) 


RT.    REV.    WM.    QUARTER.  79 

saved,  I  say,  by  the  timely  instruction  fur- 
nished at  such  institutions,  we  can  estimate, 
in  a  measure,  the  debt  of  gratitude  which 
the  world  owes  to  the  founders  of  these 
schools.  They  are  indeed  benefactors  of 
t  their  people  and  of  their  age,  and  of  ages 
far  down  the  stream  of  time,  when  their 
names  will  have  been  long  forgotten. 
Thus  will  the  schools  established  by  Bishop 
Quarter  continue  to  shed  abroad  over  the 
world  the  light  of  science  and  of  religion, 
forming  an  holy  union,  blessed  before  the 
throne  of  God,  strewing  the  thorny  path- 
way of  life  with  roses  that  bloom  even  in  the 
winter  of  age,  and  deck  with  their  never- 
fading  loveliness  the  lonesome  prison-house 
of  the  grave. 

How  strongly  did  he  urge  the  wedded 
union  of  religion  and  philosophy,  and  while 
he  wished  to  store  the  intellect  with  trea- 
sures of  learning,  he  endeavoured  to  furnish 
the  heart  with  unfailing  support  against 
the  bitter  trials  of  life  !  Here  indeed  does 
religion  fulfil  her  divine  mission,  turning 
the  wayworn  and  the  weary  into  that 


80  LIFE    OF    THE 

beautiful  valley  of  virtue  and  faith,  where 
its  purified  waters  will  bring  refreshment 
to  the  seared  hearts  of  thousands,  causing 
them  to  bless  the  author  of  their  being, 
and  teaching  them  to  look  with  a  steady 
eye  onward,  to  that  home  in  which  they 
may  sit  down  to  rest  after  their  pilgrimage 
is  ended — that  home  in  their  father's  house 
in  heaven. 

So  eager  was  he  to  establish  schools  of  a 
kind  in  which  the  very  highest  order  of 
literary  and  scientific  learning  would  be 
imparted  together  with  proper  religious  in- 
struction, that  he  determined  to  establish 
a  University  ;  and  on  the  19th  of  December 
of  this  year  a  bill  was  passed  by  the  legis- 
lature, incorporating  "  the  University  of  St. 
Mary  of  the  Lake." 

With  the  same  solicitude  for  the  spiritual 
welfare  of  the  children  under  his  charge, 
.that  characterized  his  efforts  in  behalf  of 
the  children  of  St.  Mary's,  New-York,  he 
now,  when  he  could  obtain  a  moment's 
leisure,  set  about  providing  means  for  their 
spiritual  instructions,  more  directly  even 


RT.    REV.    WM.    QUARTER,  81 

than  could  be  accomplished  in  the  schools  ; 
and  for  this  purpose  he  formed  those  chil- 
dren into  a  pious  association,  and  the  lessons 
then  learned  from  his  lips  show  their  fruit 
in  the  virtuous  and  exemplary  young  men 
and  women  that  form  part  of  the  Catholic 
youth  of  Chicago. 

The  same  legislature  that  passed  the 
law  incorporating  the  University  of  St. 
Mary  of  the  Lake,  passed  a  bill  empower- 
ing the  Bishop  of  Chicago  and  his  suc- 
cessors to  hold  property  in  trust  for  the  use 
of  the  Catholic  Church.  The  passage  of  a 
law,  which,  as  far  as  I  know,  exists  in 
every  diocese  in  the  United  States,  has  in 
itself  nothing  strange  or  unusual,  nor  would 
it  have  found  a  notice  here,  only  that  from 
want  of  understanding  its  nature,  it  has 
been  sometimes  represented  in  a  false  light, 
and  has  been  supposed  to  be  an  unreason- 
able law.  Some  of  the  advantages  of  this 
law  are,  that  as  properties  are  held  in  trust 
for  the  Church,  and  not  as  personal  proper- 
ty, they  must  in  every  contingency  be  more 
secure.  As  the  title  of  Bishop  of  Chicago 


82  LIFE    OF    THE 

and  his  successors  is  recognised  by  the  laws 
of  the  State  by  virtue  of  this  act,  properties, 
willed  to  the  Bishop  of  Chicago  for  chari- 
table purposes,  can  be  legally  recovered, 
and  applied  to  their  destined  uses.  This 
could  not  otherwise  have  been  done,  unless 
such  bequests  were  made  to  the  Bishop  in 
his  individual  capacity,  and  not  as  Bishop 
of  Chicago ;  and,  therefore,  his  relatives 
might,  in  case  of  his  sudden  death,  have 
deprived  the  Church  of  its  rights,  and  the 
poor  of  the  charities  intended  for  them. 

Bishop  Quarter  had  now  a  charter  for 
his  new  College,  and  he  wished  next  to 
establish  an  Ecclesiastical  Seminary,  in 
which  he  might  educate  young  men  for 
the  holy  ministry,  in  order  to  supply  the 
wants  of  hi&;  diocese.  Great  was  the 
dearth  of  clergymen  in  it,  and  all  his 
energies  were  applied  to  remove  this  very 
serious  obstacle  to  his  progress.  There 
was,  however,  a  very  great  bar  in  the 
way  of  the  accomplishment  of  this  his  pur- 
pose, and  that  was  the  lack  of  means  to 
erect  the  buildings.  With  a  view  to  pro 


RT.    REV.    WM.    QUARTER.  83 

cure  this  means,  he  left  Chicago  for  New- 
York,  early  in  the  April  of  1845.  He  was 
absent  about  four  months,  and  during  that 
time  he  collected  a  large  sum  of  money, 
which  enabled  him  to  commence  the  erec- 
tion of  the  building.  On  the  17th  of  Oc- 
tober the  foundation  of  the  College  and 
Seminary  was  begun;  so  rapidly  did  the 
work  progress,  that  on  the  22d  of  Novem- 
ber they  were  under  roof. 

The  amount  of  money  that  he  had  col- 
lected in  the  diocese  of  New- York,  was 
not  sufficient  to  enable  him  to  complete 
these  buildings ;  and,  in  order  to  do  this, 
his  pastoral  of  1846  was  directed  to  his 
faithful  clergymen,  directing  them  to  assist 
him  in  his  undertaking.  He  says  : 

"Although  our  holy  religion  advances  daily  and 
steadily,  under  the  protecting  care  of  Divine  Provi- 
dence, and  although  the  number  of  the  clergy  has 
been  considerably  increased  within  the  last  two  years, 
still  are  there  several  congregations  in  the  Diocese, 
deprived  the  whole  year  round  of  the  consolations  of 
their  Religion.  There  are  many  who  have  not  the 
happiness  to  assist  even  once  in  the  twelve  months 
at  the  Adorable  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass ;  and  numbers 
die  annually  without  receiving  the  last  rites  of  the 
Church,  especially  in  those  monliis  when  sickness  is 


84  LIFE    OF    THE 

most  prevalent  in  these  Western  States,  and  all  this 
because  the  clergymen  are  not  as  yet  sufficiently 
numerous  in  this  diocese  to  have  one  stationed  in 
each  congregation.  Another  melancholy  evil  arising 
also  from  the  scarcity  of  clergymen,  is,  that  the  chil- 
dren of  Catholic  parents,  in  various  sections  of  the 
State,  are  suffered  to  grow  up  without  any  religious  in- 
struction. If  the  present,  in  their  regard,  be  painful  to 
reflect  upon,  the  future  presents  a  dismal  and  a  dreary 
aspect. 

"  It  is  not  necessary  that  I  make  here  reflections. 
The  naked  facts  cannot  fail  to  touch  every  Christian 
heart.  They  who  have  always  enjoyed  the  consola- 
tions of  their  holy  religion,  and  who  never  ex- 
perienced the  agony  occasioned  by  the  absence  of  a 
priest,  especially  when  sickness,  disease  and  death 
were  near,  or  had  already  smitten  some  of  their  friends 
or  family,  cannot,  perhaps,  fully  appreciate  the  sad 
and  forlorn  condition  of  those  around  whom  all  those 
miseries  have  gathered.  Still,  they  cannot  be  so 
hardened  as  not  to  sympathise  with  their  afflicted 
brethren.  They  who  have  already  tasted  of  this  cup 
of  sorrows,  know  too  well  its  bitterness  to  need  a 
word  of  explanation. 

"  Are  those  evils  to  remain,  or  shall  no  effort  be 
made  to  remove  them !  Will  no  effort  be  made  to 
send  to  our  brethren  that  are  far  away  from  their 
father's  house,  and  toiling  in  bondage,  an  adviser, — a 
consoler, — yea,  a  deliverer  1  Will  no  effort  be  made 
to  secure  a  pious,  a  disinterested,  a  zealous  clergy, 
who  may  go  to  the  exile  in  his  lone  hut,  in  his  soli- 
tary i'nd  desert  home,  with  words  of  peace  on  their 
lips  und  blessings  in  their  train,  to  offer  the  Adorable 


RT.    REV.    WM.    QUARTER  85 

Mysteries,  to  administer  the  Sacraments,  and  to  iBr 
struct  in  the  ways  of  Salvation  ?  To  enable  the 
Bishop  to  send  missionaries  where  they  are  moat 
needed,  will  not  the  faithful  generously  co-operate 
and  assist  with  their  means  1  Can  any  alms  be  better 
bestowed  than  those  which  are  given  to  have  the 
poor  relieved,  the  sick  visited,  the  afflicted  and  sor- 
rowing,  soothed  and  consoled,  the  ignorant  instructed, 
and  the  seeds  of  virtue  planted  in  the  youthful  breast? 
Can  any  alms  be  more  meritorious  than  those  which 
tend  to  preserve  the  soul  from  eternal  ruin  '\  With- 
out the  charitable  co-operation  of  the  faithful  through- 
out the  Diocese,  little,  comparatively,  can  be  done  by 
the  Bishop  ;  with  it,  much  can  be  effected.  Were 
every  adult  Catholic  in  the  Diocese,  or  even  every 
head  of  a  family,  to  contribute  but  one  dollar  annually 
towards  the  support  of  the  Diocesan  Ecclesiastical 
Seminary,  that  has  been  in  existence  about  two  years, 
soon  could  missionaries  be  sent  to  every  congregation 
in  the  Diocese.  As  yet,  however,  the  Catholics  of 
the  Diocese  have  contributed  but  little  towards  the 
support  of  this  Ecclesiastical  Seminary.  They  are 
now  requested  to  be  more  considerate  hereafter. 
They  are  emphatically  requested  to  turn  their  atten- 
tion and  to  direct  their  charitable  donations  to 'an  In- 
stitution where  the  future  priests  of  the  Diocese  are 
being,  and  are  to  be,  educated,  and  from  whence  many 
have  already  gone  forth  to  labour  in  the  vineyard  of 
the  Lord.  The  Ecclesiastical  Seminary  of  the  Dio- 
cese has  to  depend  for  support  on  the  voluntary  con- 
tributions of  the  faithful.  To  it,  in  their  turn,  are  the 
faithful  to  look,  both  now  and  hereafter,  for  a  supply 
of  zealous  missionaries.  Will  they  refuse  then  their 
8 


86  LIFE    OF    THE 

fostering  care  ?  Will  they  deny  to  it  support,  and 
still  expect  to  have  clergymen  sent  to  them  when 
they  are  in  need  ? " 

Addressing  each  of  his  clergymen  se- 
parately, he  entreats  them  to  use  their  ut- 
most exertions  in  behalf  of  the  new  Semi- 
nary in  order  to  sustain  it.  He  says : 

11  To  you,  Rev.  and  Dear  Sir,  do  I  confidently  and 
unhesitatingly  entrust  the  task  of  explaining  more  fully 
to  your  people,  the  vast  importance  to  Religion  of 
contributing  towards  the  support  of  our  Ecclesiastical 
Seminary, — you  know  the  wants  of  the  people — you 
have  discovered  how  fast  irreligion  is  spreading, 
where  religious  instruction  is  not  imparted — you  have 
heard,  with  aching  heart,  the  God  of  Heaven  blas- 
phemed— you  have  witnessed  with  sorrow  the  con- 
tempt shown  for  the  sacred  institutions  of  Christ — 
you  have  seen  with  horror  and  dismay,  the  blood  of 
Calvary  that  was  shed  for  the  redemption  of  the 
world,  impiously  trodden  under  foot — your  remon- 
strances might  have  been  fruitless,  and  you  could 
only  pray  in  the  words  of  your  Divine  Master  :  "  O 
Heavenly  Father,  forgive  them,  for  they  know  not 
what  they  do ;" — you  have  seen  Christians  trans- 
gress against  all  the  commandments  of  God,  and  of 
his  Holy  Church,  and  indulge  in  crimes,  from  the  com- 
mission of  which,  even  Pagans  would  recoil — you  dis- 
covered that  the  sacraments,  the  channels  through 
which  the  Grace  of  God  was  to  be  communicated  to 
the  souls  of  Christians,  were  neglected,  and  that  the 
Sinner,  hardened  in  guilt,  would  rather  suffer  his  im- 
mortal soul  to  perish  eternally,  than  forsake  the  evil 


RT.    REV.    WM.    QUARTER.  87 

of  his  ways.  At  the  sight  of  these  evils  your  soul 
melted  in  anguish,  and  you  desired  and  prayed  that 
you  might  behold,  in  the  midst  of  this  erring  people, 
an  Apostolic  Priesthood,  who  by  their  pious,  assidu- 
ous, and  disinterested  labours,  might  reclaim  them 
again  to  God,  and  give  them  back  sightly  plants  to 
the  vineyard  of  his  holy  Church  ;  you  have  experien- 
ced, moreover,  how  great  are  the  toils,  how  many  the 
privations,  and  how  few  the  earthly  consolations  of 
our  small  but  very  zealous  body  of  Clergymen;  you 
felt  that  an  increase  of  numbers  was  much  needed, 
needed  to  aid  and  assist  those  already  engaged  in  the 
toilsome  labours  of  the  missions,  that  their  valuable 
lives  may  not  be  shortened  by  over-exertion,  and  that 
the  vineyard  of  the  Lord  may  be  cultivated  properly, 
and  in  every  part,  that  for  heaven  may  be  reaped 
hereafter  a  rich  harvest  of  those  souls  for  whose  sal- 
vation Christ  shed  his  precious  blood. 

"  Because  of  these  motives,  you  will  concur,  and 
heartily  aid  in  the  success  of  this  holy  work. 

"  The  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  with  your 
spirit. 

"  f  WILLI A  M,  Bishop  of  Chicago. 

"  Given  at  Chicago,  Feast  of  St.  Francis  ^ 
Xaverius,  Dec.  4,  1846."  3 

These  eloquent  appeals  never  failed  to 
find  an  echo  in  their  hearts ;  for  so  did  this 
body  of  clergymen  love  their  Bishop,  that  it 
was  enough  for  them  to  know  what  was 
his  will  or  wish,  in  order  to  set  about  grati- 
fying it. 


88  LIFE    OF    THE 


CHAPTER  V. 

rROM    THE    COMMENCEMENT     OF    THE    SECOND    YEAR    OF 
HIS    EPISCOPACY    UNTIL    HIS  DEATH.      1845 — 1848. 

During  the  first  year  of  his  mission  that 
was  now  passed,  he  had  surmounted  all 
the  difficulties  that  threatened  his  outset. 
His  Cathedral  was  finished  and  paid  for; 
his  College  and  Seminary  were  in  pro- 
gress ;  he  had  supplied  with  pastors  many 
missions  hitherto  deprived  of  the  consola- 
tion of  religion  ;  and  although  he  came  to 
a  Diocese  almost  stripped  of  clergymen, 
he  had  now  a  goodly  array  with  which  to 
battle  against  the  powers  of  darkness.  He 
had  ordained  seven  young  men,  and  occa- 
sionally an  American  or  an  Irish  or  a 
German,  priest  would  find  his  way  to  this 
far-out  corner  of  the  Church,  adding  to  his 
numbers  and  his  strength. 

As  the  clergymen  who  could  minister  to 
the  spiritual  wants  of  the  people  increased, 
so  did  the  numbers  of  the  people  increase. 


RT.    REV.    WM.    QUARTER.  89 

Catholics  began  now  to  pour  in  from  other 
and  distant  states  and  countries  ;  and  St. 
Mary's  Church  was  already  too  small  to 
contain  all  the  worshippers  that  came  up 
to  bow  their  hearts  and  bend  their  knees 
before  her  holy  altar.  A  new  church  was 
required  to  accommodate  them,  and  on 
the  10th  of  March,  1846,  the  frame  of  St. 
Patrick's  Church,  on  the  west  side  of  the 
Chicago  River,  was  erected  by  the  Very 
Rev.  Walter  Quarter,  who  was  the  first 
pastor  of  it. 

In  the  same  month  was  commenced  the 
erection  of  two  Catholic  German  churches, 
one  on  the  north  side  and  the  other  on  the 
south  side  of  the  main  river. 

Immediately  after  the  return  of  the  Bi- 
shop from  the  Provincial  Council  of  Balti- 
more, which  was  held  in  this  year,  he 
opened  his  new  Seminary.  He  had  at  the 
same  time  the  satisfaction  of  witnessing 
the  completion  of  the  first  monument  of 
his  enterprise.  The  last  touch  of  the  paint- 
er's brush  had  been  given  to  his  new  Uni- 
versity, and  on  the  fourth  of  July  it  was 
8* 


'90  LIFE    OF    THE 

opened  with  appropriate  ceremonies  for 
the  reception  of  pupils. 

Its  career  commenced  with  two  profes- 
sors and  two  teachers,  and  sixteen  pupils, 
It  gradually  progressed  until  he  had  the 
happiness,  even  during  his  life,  of  witness- 
ing the  success  of  his  undertaking,  of  see- 
ing the  "  sapling  become  the  oak  tree" — 
and  now  there  are  eleven  professors  em- 
ployed by  the  University,  four  tutors,  and 
the  number  of  pupils  is  125. 

The  course  of  instruction  is  as  extensive 
as  is  given  in  the  best  Colleges  in  the 
United  States,  and  some  of  the  depart- 
ments are  more  practical  than  are  to  be 
found  elsewhere,  while  the  college-fee  is 
only  150  dollars  per  annum. 

The  location  is  a  beautiful  and  healthy 
one,  just  on  the  borders  of  Lake  Michigan; 
and  the  'ample  grounds  and  the  extensive 
meadows  in  the  vicinity  afford  students 
ample  opportunity  of  enjoying  healthful 
exercise  and  abundant  recreation  in  the 
free,  open  air — while  the  College  itself, 
though  situated  within  the  city  limits,  is 


RT.    REV.    WM.    QUARTER.  91, 

far  enough  removed  from  the  business-part 
to  make  it  favourable  to  the  pursuits  of 
study. 

He  had  now  completed  his  College,  his  Se- 
minary, the  two  Catholic  English  churches 
of  St.  Mary's  and  St.  Patrick's,  the  two 
Catholic  German  churches  of  St.  Peter  and 
St.  Joseph  in  the  city,  and  the  diocese 
was  in  a  flourishing  condition.  But  there 
was  yet  a  want  unsupplied.  The  male 
youths  of  the  congregation  were  furnished 
with  good  schools  and  proper  facilities 
for  receiving  instruction  ;  the  female  por- 
tion had  as  yet  no  such  facilities.  But  if 
they  were  unprovided,  it  was  not  because 
he  did  not  feel  the  necessity  of  such  pro- 
vision, but  because  it  could  not  possibly 
have  been  sooner  made. 

No  man  living  was  more  deeply  impress- 
ed with  the  necessity  of  a  proper  training 
for  the  female  youth  than  Bishop  Quarter. 
He  knew  that  to  them,  as  mothers,  wives 
and  daughters,  would  in  a  great  measure 
be  entrusted  the  character  of  his  people. 
He  knew  that  the  society  in  which  they 


92  LIFE    OF    THE 

might  mingle,  would  bear  the  character 
they  would  stamp  upon  it,  and  that  by 
his  mother  would  the  man  be  marked  for 
weal  or  wo.  It  is  true  that  those  female 
children  whose  parents  could  watch  over 
them,  might  fulfil  their  expectations  ;  but 
what  would  have  become  of  the  female 
poor,  whose  parents,  in  their  hard  struggle 
for  bread,  had  no  time  to  devote  to  them, 
and  could  not  provide  them  with  instruc- 
tors ?  How  could  these  ever  hope  to  rise 
above  their  low  condition,  or  how  could 
they  pass  the  fiery  ordeal  unscathed,  when 
the  myriads  of  temptations,  to  which  a  life 
of  poverty  and  destitution  exposes  them, 
were  around  them  like  harpies  1  How 
would  they  escape,  when  unprotected  by 
proper  religious  instructions  which  would 
serve  as  their  safeguards  ? 

Though-  there  are  schools  for  the  poor, 
with  well-paid  teachers  fattening  on  the 
spoils  .wrung  from  the  people  in  the  way 
of  taxation,  yet  experience  has  demonstrat- 
ed beyond  the  possibility  of  contradiction, 
that  the  morals  of  the  poor  who  frequent 


RT.    REV.    WM.    QUARTER.  93 

these  schools  are  not  improved.  Indeed, 
improvement  under  the  head  of  morals 
should  not  be  expected  from  them. — How 
can  teachers  in  the  world,  pursuing  a 
worldly  life,  root  out  the  seeds  of  vice  and 
impiety  sown,  deeply  sown,  amid  the  haunts 
of  intemperance  and  impurity  ?  They  can- 
not reach  the  disorder,  for  they  are  not 
clothed  with  the  sanctity  that  will  permit 
them  to  probe  to  the  bottom  the  festering 
wounds  that  are  gangrening  upon  the  face 
of  society,  and,  therefore,  they  cannot  apply 
the  remedy  ;  but  the  Catholic  Church,  the 
mother  of  the  unfortunate,  has  within  her 
pale,  communities  of  men  and  women  who 
have  no  worldly  aims  in  view,  and  who  de- 
vote themselves  to  this  sacrifice  of  love: 
the  bringing  back  into  the  fold  the  strayed 
sheep  of  the  flock,  and  sending  them  forth 
again,  that  their  example  may  improve 
their  associates,  and  make  them  better. 

In  order  then  to  supply  this  want — to 
procure  a  community  of  female  religious, 
who  would  instruct  and  educate  the  fe- 
male children,  Bishop  Quarter  applied  to 


94  LIFE    OF    THE 

Bishop  O'Connor  of  Pittsburg,  from  whom 
he  received  a  branch  of  the  order  of  the 
Sisters  of  Mercy,  established  in  that  city. 
On  the  23d  of  September,  five  members 
of  the  order  of  Mercy,  accompanied  by  iheir 
superioress,  Sister  Mary,  Francis  Ward 
and  Very  Rev.  Walter  Quarter,  who  had 
been  commissioned  by  the  Bishop  to  con- 
duct them,  reached  Chicago. —  They  were 
Sisters  Mary  Agatha  O'Brien,  the  superioress 
of  the  New  Foundation,  Mary  Vincent 
McGirr,  Mary  Gertrude  McGuire,*  Mary 
Eliza  Corbitt,  and  Mary  Eva  Smidt.  This 
small  community  entered  at  once  upon 
their  mission  of  Mercy,  dispensing  the  rich 
stores  of  earthly  acquirements  they  had 
gained  in  the  world,  and  of  unearthly  riches 
they  had  amassed  while  clothed  with  the 
habiliments  of  their  new  vocation. 

As  an  instance  of  the  regard  for  the  hap- 
piness of  all  around  him,  and  the  total  ab- 
sence of  all  considerations  for  self,  it  will 
not  be  out  of  place  to  here  observe,  that  on 
the  day  on  which  the  Sisters  arrived,  the 

*  Since  dead. 


RT.    REV.    WM.    QUARTER.  95 

Bishop  conducted  them  around  the  church, 
and  the  building  that  was  to  be  their  con- 
vent. This  was  a  low  one-story  house,  nei- 
ther very  convenient  nor  of  very  captivat- 
ing appearance,  but  it  was  the  best  he 
had  to  offer  them.  It  had  been  his  own  re- 
sidence, and  poor  as  it  was,  it  was  a  palace 
compared  with  the  one  to  which  he  him- 
self removed,  when  he  resigned  it  to  them 
for  their  convent.  Could  you  have  seen 
him  as  he  passed  that  round,  watching  to 
catch  but  one  expression  of  satisfaction 
upon  the  countenances  of  the  Sisters,  you 
would  have  pitied  him  had  it  not  been  given. 
That  night  he  did  not  retire  at  all :  his  anx- 
iety banished  sleep  from  his  eyelids  ;  for  he 
feared  that  they  might  be  disappointed  at 
not  finding  things  in  better  order  for  their 
coming.  Next  morning,  however,  while 
seated  conversing  with  their  superioress, 
he  heard  in  their  community-room  the  joy- 
ous laugh,  which  could  come  only  from 
the  contented  heart:  clasping  his  hands  as 
he  rose  from  his  seat,  he  exclaimed  :  ''Now 


96  LIFE    OF    THE 

indeed  I  am  satisfied  ;  that  laugh  could  not 
have  come  from  the  dissatisfied." 

Dear  Bishop  Quarter,  could  there  have 
been  one  around  thee  that  had  witnessed 
thy  self-denial, — thy  willing  poverty,  for 
Christ's  sake, — thy  patience,  thy  meekness, 
thy  anxious  efforts  in  behalf  of  the  people 
committed  to  thy  charge,  and  have  been  un- 
willing to  have  divided  with  thee  the  dry 
bread  that  was  at  times  thy  only  sustenance 
— that  would  not  have  been  willing  to  have 
shared  with  thee  a  poverty  that  left  thee 
but  one  dime  to  be  called  thy  own,  on  that 
day  when  God  summoned  thee  to  himself? 

The  schools  of  the  Sisters  of  Mercy  w^ere 
at  once  opened,  and  well  attended  ;  and  al- 
ready the  good  effects  of  the  wise  policy 
of  Bishop  Quarter  are  beginning  to  be  ex- 
perienced. Who  can  estimate  the  incalcu- 
lable benefits  that  will  result  from  this  po- 
licy in  days  and  years  yet  to  come  ?  God 
only. 

Having  now  the  household  of  his  Dio- 
cese •  in  order,  he  summoned  a  Diocesan 
Synod  of  his  clergymen  :  of  these,  thirty-two 


RT.    REV.    WM.    QUARTER.  97 

were  present,  and  nine  absent  in  conse- 
quence of  ill  health,  or  bad  roads. — This 
Synod  met  in  Chicago,  in  the  April  of  this 
year,  and  with  his  assistance  formed  the 
Statutes  of  the  Diocese.  Forty-one  clergy- 
men already  in  this  new  Diocese  !  How 
must  Bishop  Quarter  have  laboured,  to  have 
gathered  around  him  so  many  disciples, 
worthy  disciples  of  the  fishermen  of  Galilee ! 
— men  of  every  country  and  clirne,  come  hi- 
ther to  dispense  the  glad  tidings  of  salva- 
tion,— sending  up  like  incense  to  the  throne 
of  heaven,  the  praises  of  their  Creator, — 
and  raising  loudly  their  voices  amid 
the  late  solemn  silence  of  the  wilderness, 
or  by  the  side  of  the  streams  that  had 
hitherto  hymned  up  their  everlasting  an- 
therns  unchorussed  by  the  voice  of  mortal 
man ! 

The  convent  of  the  Sisters  of  Mercy 
was  now  too  small  for  the  accommoda- 
tion of  the  numbers  that  flocked  to  their 
schools,  and  he  therefore  commenced  and 
completed,  during  this  the  last  year  of  his 
life,  the  large  and  convenient  building  at 


98  LIFE    OF    THE 

present  occupied  by  the  Sisters  of  Mercy 
as  their  Convent  and  Academy.  It  was 
incorporated  by  the  legislature  in  1846, 
and  possesses  a  most  ample  charter.  The 
building  is  located  in  the  most  beautiful 
and  healthy  part  of  the  city,  and  but  one 
square  removed  from  the  beach.  In  front 
of  it  stretches  away,  as  far  as  the  eye 
can  reach,  the  waters  of  the  beautiful  Lake 
Michigan. 

The  course  of  instruction  is  the  same  as 
that  given  in  the  best  female  schools  in 
the  country.  Ten  Sisters  are  constantly 
engaged  in  this  Academy.  The  founda- 
tion was  begun  with  five  Sisters:  there 
are  now  sixteen  members  in  the  com- 
munity, and  seven  applicants  who 
will  be  received  very  shortly.  Scarce  had 
two  years  elapsed  from  the  time  this 
little  colony  was  sent  out  by  the  Bishop 
of  Pittsburg,  until  it  had  reached  the  ma- 
turity of  many  old  foundations.  Upwards 
of  two  hundred  pupils  attend  the  schools 
of  the  Sisters  of  Mercy  in  Chicago. 

On  the  llth  of  November  the  Theolo- 


RT.    REV.    WM.    QUARTER. 

gical  Conferences  were  established  by  Bi- 
shop Quarter,  first  in  America.  These 
Conferences  are  held  twice  a  year,  at  Chi- 
cago, Alton,  and  Galena.  All  the  clergy- 
men in  the  Diocese  assemble  at  them, 
and  are  questioned  on  certain  tracts  of 
Theology  designated  by  the  Master  of  the 
Conference.  Questions  appertaining  to  the 
holy  calling  and  ministerial  duties  of  the 
Clergymen — regarding  the  Rubrics  of  the 
Roman  Missal  and  the  Statutes  of  the 
Diocese — are  discussed  at  these  Conferen- 
ces. The  advantages  derived  from  them 
are,  that  they  keep  the  doctrines  of  the 
Church,  and  the  proofs,  fresh  in  the  minds 
of  the  teachers  of  the  people:  so  that 
at  any  moment  they  may  be  prepared  to 
give  a  reason  for  the  truth  of  their 
teachings.  The  establishment  of  these 
'*  Conferences"  showed  alike  his  energy  and 
judgment  in  providing  for  the  welfare  of 
the  Church. 

He  eagerly  encouraged  every  means 
that  might  enhance  the  spiritual  welfare 
of  every  member  of  his  flock,  and  with 


100  LIFE    OF    THE 

this  view  he  directed  the  Sisters  of  Mercy 
to  establish  a  Sodality  of  the  Blessed  Vir- 
gin, by  means  of  which  the  female  chil- 
dren might  be  gathered  together,  in  order 
to  instruct  them  in  their  religious  duties 
more  thoroughly  than  could  be  done  other- 
wise ;  and  in  his  last  pastoral,  from  which  I 
have  already  quoted,  he  urged  upon  his  cler- 
gymen the  advantages  of  establishing  So- 
dalitjes  of  the  same  kind  in  their  congre- 
gations, where  such  had  not  been  as  yet 
done.  He  says  : 

"  We  earnestly  recommend  the  clergy  to  esta- 
blish in  their  congregations,  if  they  have  not  al- 
ready done  so,  '  the  Confraternity  of  the  Rosary,' 
or  of  'the  Immaculate  Heart  of  Mary;'  and  we 
as  strongly  recommend  to  the  faithful  to  become 
members,  and  to  endeavour  to  partake  of  the  spiri- 
tual benefits  and  privileges  granted  to  t'lose  socie- 
ties. Let  parents  urge  their  children  also  to  join 
those  religious  societies,  and  soon  will  tbey  disco- 
ver the  happy  results,  in  their  obedience,  gentle- 
ness, tractableness,  and  faithful  attention  to  their 
Christian  duties." 

For  the  same  purpose,  he  directed  the 
instructors  in  the  Academy  of  St.  Joseph, 
to  form  among  the  male  children  of  the  Aca- 
demy a  St.  Joseph's  Society : 


RT.    REV.    WM.    QUARTER.  '101 

"  The  exalted  virtues  of  St.  Joseph,  and  the  dig- 
nified privileges  he  obtained,  not  only  convince  us 
1  how  wonderful  is  (rod  in  his  Saints,'  but  demand 
from  us  a  relative  devotion  due  to  so  faithful  a 
servant.  And  if  our  Heavenly  Father  has  elected 
him  to  watch  over  the  tender  years  of  His  Divine 
Son,  and  to  be  his  protector  ;  and  if  He  has  pla- 
ced under  his  patronage  and  guardianship,  the  Bless- 
ed Virgin,  mother  of  the  same  Divine  Redeemer, 
how  pleased  must  not  be  this  Heavenly  Father 
to  see  us,  his  '  little  ones',  place  ourselves  under 
his  protection  and  patronage.  The  end  then  of  this 
*  Society'  is,  that  the  members  cultivate  the  devo- 
tion due  to  St.  Joseph  ;  invoke  his  intercession, 
and  regulate  their  Jives  in  such  a  way,  as  that  they 
may  be  worthy  to  adopt  him  as  their  Patron.  In 
order  the  more  fully  to  attain  this  end,  the  devo- 
tion to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  styled  '  full  of  grace,* 
is  particularly  recommended.  Another  end  of  this 
4  Society'  is,  to  collect  together  at  convenient  times 
the  pupils  of  the  'Academy,'  and  such  boys  and 
adults  as  frequent  the  Sunday  School  kept  there, 
that  instructions  may  be  given  them  in  the  princi- 
ples of  the  Religion  they  profess,  and  in  the  doc- 
trines of  morality  they  are  bound  to  practise." 

I  have  said,  that  he  laboured  for  the  spi- 
ritual welfare  of  all  his  people.  He  labour- 
ed also  for  their  temporal  welfare,  and 
particularly  for  that  of  his  Irish  fellow- 
citizens.  His  heart  clung  fondly,  O, 

how  fondly  !  to  the  memories   of  the  past. 
9* 


102  LIFE    OF    THE 

The  associations  of  his  young  years  were 
woven  round  that  heart,  which  yearned 
with  the  tenderest  regard  towards  the  poor 
and  persecuted  exiles,  that  sought  beneath 
this  happier  clime  a  home  and  a  resting- 
place.  He  laboured  earnestly  and  zealous- 
ly to  improve  their  condition  in  this  coun- 
try of  their  adoption,  in  order  to  make  them 
worthy  the  glorious  privileges  they  here 
enjoyed.  He  saw  them,  having  escaped 
the  blood-hounds  of  power,  met  as  they  land- 
ed upon  the  shores  of  the  New  World,  by 
the  harpies  that  watched  for  them.  He 
knew  the  feelings  of  their  generous  hearts, 
and  that  they  had  learned  at  home  to  love 
America,  her  institutions,  and  her  people  : 
but  I  say  he  saw  them  met,  as  they  land- 
ed, by  the  sharpers,  and  plundered  by  them 
of  the  little  left  them  ;  and  where  they  had 
hoped  for  succour,  they  were  beggared  in 
the  moment  of  their  confidence,  and  thrown 
pennyless  in  a  strangers'  land  upon  the  cold 
charity  of  the  world. 

Such  was  the    fate   from  which  Bishop 
Quarter  wished   to  save  this  people.     He 


RT.    REV.    WM.    QUARTER.  103 

wished  to  see  them  no  longer  the  tools 
of  the  designing  ; — he  wished  to  see  them 
stand  forth  among  their  fellow  freemen 
in  the  majesty  of  their  nature,  asserting 
the  old  dignity  of  which  ages  of  oppres- 
sion had  not  altogether  deprived  them  : 
and  therefore  he  originated  the  Chicago 
Hibernian  Benevolent  Emigrant  Society. 
This  association  was  gotten  up  to  bid  the 
stranger  welcome  to  his  new  home — to 
guard  him  from  imposition — to  advise  and 
to  direct  him — to  furnish  him  with  timely 
charity,  if  need  be.  The  advantages 
which  the  immigrant  derives  from  such 
associations  are  known  only  to  those  who 
may  have  been  benefited  by  them,  and  many 
an  one  will  now  be  found  to  bless  the  me- 
mory of  Bishop  Quarter  for  benefits  derived 
from  this  Chicago  Society. 

During  Lent  he  was  engaged  in  deliver- 
ing a  series  of  Lectures  upon  the  marks 
of  the  True  Church. — On  Passion  Sunday 
he  lectured  at  last  mass  in  the  Cathedral 
on  her  Apostolicity,  and  while  he,  the 
apostle  of  this  young  church,  stood  in  that 


104  LIFE    OF    THE 

pulpit,  making,  as  it  were,  his  own  profes- 
sion of  faith  ;  as  the  burning  words  fell 
from  his  lips,  who  could  have  imagined 
the  catastrophe  that  was  impending  ? 

On  leaving  the  pulpit,  he  felt  very  much 
fatigued  ;  and  at  vespers,  his  voice,  as  he  gave 
his  last  blessing  to  his  people,  was  remark- 
ed to  want  its  usual  full  tone  ;  but  in  the 
evening  he  conversed  with  his  friends,  in  as 
lively  a  manner  as  usual.  He  ate  a  light 
supper,  and  retired  early,  remarking,  howe- 
ver, to  Rev.  Mr.  McElhearne,  who  resided 
in  the  house  with  him,  that  he  did  not  feel 
as  well  as  usual ;  but  that  he  thought  sleep 
would  revive  him. 

About  2  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the 
tenth  of  April,  Mr.  McElhearne  was  awa- 
kened by  his  moans,  and  hurrying  instantly 
to  the  Bishop's  apartment,  found  him  seated 
on  the  edge  of  his  bed. — He  complained  of 
a  very  severe  pain  in  his  head.  Rapidly 
his  strength  seemed  failing,  and  with  a  pru- 
dence worthy  of  imitation,  this  zealous 
young  clergymen  proceeded,  having  sent 
for  medical  aid,  to  administer  to  his  Bishop 


RT.    REV.    WM.    QUARTER.  105 

all  those  consolations  which  the  Church 
affords  to  her  departing  children. 

Scarce  had  this  duty  been  accomplished, 
when,  having  uttered  the  words,  "  Lord 
have  mercy  on  my  poor  soul,"  the  Bishop 
fell  over  into  a  deep  slumber. — So  thought 
those  around  him  :  but  alas  !  it  was  a  sleep 
that  knew  no  awakening  ! 

When  I  entered  his  room,  his  devoted 
clergymen  of  the  city  were  around  him ; 
and  though  no  relative  was  there  to  receive 
his  last  sigh,  there  were  those  beside  him 
who  loved  him  dearly,  very  dearly.  Not  a 
word  was  spoken  as  Ipassedto  the  bed  side. 
The  dear  Bishop  lay  as  if  in  a  quiet  slumber. 
I  reached  for  his  arm ;  explored  the  wrist 
for  the  pulse  ;  but  there  was  no  pulse,  and 
the  cold  hand  dropped  from  my  grasp.  I 
placed  my  ear  upon  the  chest,  to  ascertain 
whether  life  might  not  be  yet  standing,  tot- 
tering upon  the  threshold  of  eternity  :  but  I 
listened  in  vain.  The  spirit  had  departed 
from  its  earthly  tenement — had  shaken  off 
its  mortal  shackles — had  passed  the  bourne : 
and  that  lately  warm  and  noble  heart  had 


106  LIFE    OF    THE 

ceased  its  pulsations  forever  ! — the  tongue 
that  pleaded  so  eloquently  for  the  truths  he 
taught,  would  plead  no  more. 

I  knew  that  for  him  life's  volume  was  clos- 
ed, but  how  could  I  speak  that  knowledge  ? 
Whata  scene  of  woe  would  one  simple  word 
disclose !  Oh  how  truly  is  it,  that  to  us  is  gi- 
ven the  power  to  cause  the  blush  of  hope  to 
mantle  the  pale  cheek,  or  to  speak  the  words 
that  will  make  it  paler  still !  and  ho  w  painful- 
ly did  I  feel  this  as  I  turned  from  that  bed  and 
whispered  the  word,  "  Dead  !" — and  ere  my 
startled  ear  recovered  from  the  shock  that 
whisper  made  on  silence,  it  was  re-echoed 
amid  the  tears  and  the  lamentations  even 
of  those  without !  He  was  dead  !  Yes,  there 
he  lay  calmly  and  quietly,  as  in  sweet 
repose.  His  spirit  had  passed  away  like 
the  zephyr's  breath,  and  there  was  a  linger- 
ing smile  upon  his  cold  lip,  that  told  how 
happily. 

In  less  than  an  hour  the  news  of  his 
death  had  spread  over  the  whole  city,  and 
in  the  evidences  of  deep  regret  and  con- 
sternation in  the  face  of  each  passer-by, 


RT.    REV.    WM.    QUARTER.  107 

you  might  have  read  the  sorrow  and  the 
surprise  that  were  so  general.  The 
people  began  to  crowd  around  his  resi- 
dence at  an  early  hour,  to  obtain  a  look 
of  all  that  was  left  of  their  Bishop. 

Dressed  in  full  pontificals,  his  remains 
were  exposed  in  his  residence  until  2 
o'clock  of  the  second  day  after  his  death. 
Here  they  were  visited  by  all  his  flock, 
and  by  every  respectable  and  liberal  pro- 
testant  in  the  city ;  also  by  some  of  the 
protestant  clergymen,  which  mark  of  re- 
spect, while  it  showed  the  regard  in 
which  the  Bishop  was  universally  held, 
did  honour  to  their  hearts,  testifying,  for 
them,  that  difference  in  belief  had  not 
smothered  Christian  charity.  So  great 
was  the  crowd  of  persons  who  thus  visit- 
ed his  remains,  that  two  days  were  oc- 
cupied in  allowing  them  to  see  him  by 
turns. 

At  two  o'clock  on  the  12th,  his  body  was 
removed  to  his  Cathedral,  where  it  re- 
mained in  state,  upon  the  Catafalque  erect- 
ed for  the  purpose  of  supporting  it.  It 


108  LIFE    OF    THE 

was  placed  immediately  without  the  sanc- 
tuary, and  in  front  of  the  altar.  Upon  the 
coffin  were  deposited  the  insignia  of  his 
office.  The  widowed  Church  had  on  her 
robes  of  mourning. 

During  the  time  that  the  body  remained 
thus  exposed,  masses  were  being  offered  up 
for  the  repose  of  his  soul,  or  the  solemn  office 
for  the  dead  was  being  chanted  within 
the  sanctuary.  At  the  solemn  high  mass  of 
each  day  the  full-toned  organ  poured  forth 
the  Requiem,  adding  yet  deeper  solem- 
nity to  the  warning  which  the  example 
before  us  gave  :  Prepare  and  keep  your 
houses  ready,  for  you  know  not  the  day 
nor  the  hour  wherein  the  Son  of  man  com- 
eth! 

At  3  o'clock  on  Friday,  the  Feast  of  the 
Seven  Dolors,  the  funeral  ceremonies  com- 
menced. The  church  was  crowded  to  suffo- 
cation at  an  early  hour,  and  multitudes 
were  unable  to  enter  at  all ;  so  great  was 
the  desire  to  Witness  the  last  sad  rites  that 
she  pays  to  those  who  have  been  the  shep- 
herds of  her  sheepfold.  The  office  for  the 


RT.    REV.    WM.    QUARTER.  109 

dead  was  chanted  by  the  large  body  of  his 
faithful  clergymen,  who  had  gathered  in 
from  their  different  parishes,  to  pay  their 
last  duties  to  the  remains  of  their  Bishop, 
whom  they  so  dearly  loved.  When  the  of- 
fice was  concluded,  Rev.  Mr.  Feely,  then  of 
Peoria,  now  of  Elgin,  pronounced  an  elo- 
quent funeral  oration,  recalling  vividly  to  the 
minds  of  all,  the  character  and  virtues  of 
the  deceased  prelate. 

At  half  past  four  o'clock,  the  procession 
formed  to  conduct  the  body  to  its  resting- 
place.  First  came  the  clergymen  and  ec- 
clesiastical students — then  the  body,  borne 
by  six  priests — then  the  students  of  the  Uni- 
versity— then  the  pupils  of  the  Academy  of 
St.  Francis  Xavier — then  followed  the  peo- 
ple of  all  denominations,  sexes,  and  sizes. 
It  passed  out  of  the  church  ;  wound  round 
to  the  rear,  where  a  tomb  had  been  prepared 
for  it  beneath  the  sanctuary,  and  in  front 
of  the  altar  which  himself  had  reared. 
The  ceremony  was  orderly  and  imposing. 
And  when  the  clergymen  in  their  white 

surplices,    with   lighted    candles    in  their 
10 


HO  LIFE     OF    THE 

hands,  and  the  beautiful  little  children  of 
the  Academy,  dressed  in  white,  reminding 
one  of  guardian  angels,  watching  to 
protect  us,  stood  with  lighted  candles  in 
their  hands  around  the  tomb,  while  the 
body  was  being  committed  to  its  kindred 
earth,  the  effect  was  beyond  description. 
All  was  as  still  as  the  grave  itself,  and  each 
eye  was  entranced,  as  if  some  vision  from 
a  better  world  had  suddenly  disclosed  itself; 
until  the  sound  of  the  coffin  touching  the 
bottom  of  the  vault  re-echoed  through  the 
chamber :  then,  while  stifled  sobs  and  groans 
were  heard  amid  the  tears  that  chased 
each  other  down  the  cheek  of  childhood 
and  youth — over  the  pale  face  of  beauty — 
the  sunburnt  visage  of  manhood  and  the 
wrinkled  front  of  age — the  vision  around 
that  tomb  faded  away  ! 

The  ceremonies  were  ended,  the  vault 
was  closed,  and  the  seal  was  placed  upon 
its  entrance,  guarding  the  remains  of  the 
great  and  the  good  man  who  reposes  there 
in  the  hope  of  resurrection,  until  the  archan- 
gel shall  sound  the  trumpet,  calling  up  the 


RT.    REV.    WM.    QUARTER.  Ill 

dead  to  judgment.  Then  will  we  meet  again : 
— He,  the  Pastor  who  taught  us  our  duty 
to  our  God,  our  country,  and  our  race  ;  and 
we,  the  people  who  will  be  obliged  to  an- 
swer for  the  manner  in  which  we  have 
practised  his  teaching.  It  will  then  be  well 
for  us,  if  we  have  followed  and  profited 
by  his  example. 


112  LIFE    OF     THE 


CHAPTER  VI. 

REVIEW    OF    HIS    LABOURS  ;    HIS    CHARACTER. CON- 

• 
CLUSION. 

Thus  died  Bishop  Quarter,  in  the  prime  of 
his  life,  and  at  the  very  threshold  of  his  use- 
fulness. Yet  short  as  was  his  career,  it  was 
brilliant  almost  beyond  example. —  His  life 
was  not  undisturbed  by  storms,  but  in  their 
midst  he  heard  a  voice  that  the  world  does 
not;  hsar,  and  his  frail  bark  was  guided  by 
a  hand  more  powerful  than  the  mightiest 
ocean  surge. 

Amid  all  his  trials,  he  kept  steadily  in 
view  the  great  object  of  his  mission  ;  and 
when  he  expounded  that  holy  book  to  the 
weary  and  the  heavily  burdened  ;  when  he 
spoke  of  the  healing  of  the  blind,  the  lame, 
the  palsied,  the  leper,  and  the  beggar ; 
when  he  repeated  the  sentence  of  the  par- 
don of  God  the  Father  to  the  woman  stain- 
ed with  shame  ;  and  when  he  told  that 
upon  the  cross  the  malefactor,  in  his  last 


RT.    REV.      WM.    QUARTER.  : 

hour,  obtained  the  forgiveness  of  Christ  ; 
when  he  spoke  of  the  ministry  of  God, 
the  Son,  upon  earth,  who  from  his  birth 
to  his  death  shared  the  griefs  and  sorrows 
of  tmr  life,  sweetly  compassionating  our 
woes,  and  pleading  with  his  heavenly  Fa- 
ther for  our  redemption  ;  could  you,  dear 
reader,  have  seen  him  then,  with  his  spark- 
ling eyes  upturned  to  heaven,  with  that 
wistful  gaze  of  hopeful  reverence  plead- 
ing for  pardon  for  his  people  in  the  earn- 
estness of  his  heart,  you  could  not  doubt 
the  result  of  such  a  mission. 

Great  was  the  loss  sustained  by  the 
city  and  the  Diocese,  indeed  by  the  whole 
Church,  in  his  death.  Many  of  his  purpo- 
ses were  for  a  time  retarded.  Already 
had  arrangements  been  made  by  him  for 
adding  to  the  spacious  building  of  the 
University,  another  one  of  brick,  double 
the  size  of  the  present  one.  The  Convent 
and  Academy  of  the  Sisters  of  Mercy 
was  to  have  been  increased  to  double  its 
present  dimensions.  The  ground  was  laid 

out  for    the  erection  of  a  Charity  Hospi- 
10* 


114  LIFE    OF    THE 

tal,  and  for  an  Orphan  Asylum,  and  the 
contract  had  been  entered  into  for  pub- 
lishing a  Catholic  newspaper  in  this  city. 
These  were  all  suspended  at  once ;  for 
the  master-spirit  was  gone  !  • 

A  new  foundation  of  the  Sisters  of  Mercy 
in  Galena  was  projected  by  him,  and  the 
necessary  building  purchased.  This  plan 
of  his,  as  well  as  every  other  one  pos- 
sible under  the  circumstances,  was  car- 
ried out  by  his  worthy  brother,  the  Ad- 
ministrator of  the  diocese,  and  on  the  28th 
of  May,  six  Sisters  departed  for  this  mis- 
sion. 

The  day  after  his  death,  the  following 
eloquent  tribute  to  his  memory,  from  the 
pen  of  a  cherished  Protestant  friend,  S. 
Lisle  Smith,  esq.,  appeared  in  the  Chicago 
Journal  : 

On  Monday  morning,  at  3  o'clock,  WILLIAM  QUAR- 
TER, Bishop  of  Chicago,  yielded  up  his  spirit  to  his 
Maker.  On  the  preceding  beautiful  Sabbath  morn- 
ing, this  faithful  servant  of  God  stood  in  the  house 
consecrated  to' the  worship  of  the  Most  High,  and 
there,  before  his  beloved  people,  fervently  proclaim- 
ed the  oracles  of  life. 

Scarce     had     that    Sabbath    sun   gilded   with    its 


rays    the     evening  cloud,   ere   his    ransomed    spirit 
joined  in  the  melody  of  the  heavenly  choir. 

To-day,  the  wise,  the  gifted,  the  beloved  pastor, 
is  leading  his  flock  beside  the  still  waters  of  Sal- 
vation ; — to-morrow,  the-  eloquent  voice  is  still — the 
beaming  eye  is  closed — the  generous  heart  no  lon- 
ger pulsates,  and  all  that  remains  of  him,  on  earth, 
is  the  cold  and  senseless  corpse. 

Truly  the  ways  of  Providence  are  inscrutable. — 
Truly, 

"  God  moves  in  a  mysterious  way 
His  wonders  to  perform." 

In  the  midst  of  extensive  usefulness — in  the  midst 
of  a  congregation,  by  whom  he  was  beloved — in  the 
midst  of  a  community,  by  whom  he  was  respected 
— in  the  very  prime  of  a  mature  and  active  man- 
hood, a  true — a  sincere — a  devoted  Christian,  is,  al- 
most without  a  moment's  warning,  called  away 
to  his  Father's  House.  Surely  this  dispensation 
of  an  all-wise  Providence,  should  not  fall  listlessly 
upon  our  ears. 

It  is  not  our  purpose  (for  we  cannot  obtain  the 
materials)  to  write  an  extended  obituary  of  this 
truly  good,  and  eminently  distinguished  man.  Other, 
and  abler  pens  than  ours,  will,  doubtless,  prepare 
an  account  of  his  useful  life,  and  others  will  do 
ample  justice  to  those  virtues  and  graces  which 
adorned  his  simple,  but  lovely  character. 

It  was  however  our  good  fortune  to  have  become 
acquainted  with  Bishop  Quarter  soon  after  his  ar- 
rival in  Chicago,  and  we  esteem  it  now  a  most 
fortunate  circumstance,  that  we  enjoyed  frequent 
opportunities  of  improving  that  acquaintance. 


116  LIFE    OP    THE 

By  nature,  Bishop  Quarter  was  endowed  with 
talents  of  a  high  order ;  and  laboriously  had  the 
natural  powers  of  his  mind  been  cultivated  by  un- 
remitting industry.  Strong  and  decided  in  the  ad- 
vocacy of  his  own  religious  opinions,  he  was  always 
tolerant  of  the  opinions  of  others.  Charity  seemed 
to  be  the  ruling  trait  of  his  character. 

In  all  his  tastes  and  habits,  he  was  simple.  En- 
terprising and  persevering,  he  was  diligently  em- 
ployed in  advancing  the  interests  of  the  Church  of 
which  he  was  a  bright  ornament,  and  in  beautifying 
and  adorning  our  city,  by  the  erection  of  Schools, 
and  Colleges,  and  Cathedrals.  He  was  an  enthu- 
siastic friend  of  education,  and  proved  his  devo- 
tion, by  contributing  his  own  small  private  fortune 
to  the  advancement  of  that  noble  cause. 

As  a  divine,  he  was  learned,  logical  and  profound  ; 
as  a  scholar,  he  was  ripe  and  matured  ;  as  a  friend, 
he  was  true  and  unselfish  ;  as  a  Christian,  he  was 
faithful,  humble,  and  sincere. 

In  the  social  circle,  he  was  beloved  by  all  who 
knew  him.  In  his  public  sphere  of  duty,  he  was 
universally  admired  and  respected.  Enemies  he  had 
none  ;  for  his  kind  and  gentle  spirit  disarmed  op- 
posers,  and  converted  them  into  warm  and  devoted 
friends. 

Such  a  man's  departure  to  another  sphere,  is  a 
great  calamity.  Who  can  supply  his  place  ]  Who 
can  in  so  short  a  sojourn  in  a  land  of  strangers, 
again  make  so  many  true  and  sincere  friends  ? 

But  he  is  gone — gone  to  his  great  reward.  Peace 
to  his  ashes.  Honour  to  his  memory  ! 

But  who  will  break  the  tidings  to  that  aged  father, 


whose  hoary  locks  have  long  been  ripening  for  the 
grave  ?  Who  shall  comfort  that  bereaved  sister,  and 
that  afflicted  brother  ]  Alas  !  our  pen  is  arrested. — 
Our  hearts  are  full.  ***** 

*  Many  die   as  sudden — not  as  safe." 

The  ^mains  of  Bishop  Quarter  lie  beneath 
the  Sanctuary,  in  front  of  the  Altar  of  his 
Cathedral.  They  are  enclosed  in  a  vault 
purposely  erected  for  their  reception.  The 
body  was  embalmed  by  the  writer  of  this 
memoir.  It  is  enclosed  in  three  coffins  :  the 
inner  one  is  of  black  walnut,  with  a  silver 
cross  upon  it  bearing  the  following  inscrip- 
tion : 

"  Rt.  Rev.  William  Quarter,  D.  D.,  First 
Bishop  of  Chicago.  Consecrated  March 
10th,  1844:  Died  April  10th,  1848.  Re- 
quiescat  in  Pace." 

The  vault  is  built  of  brick,  and  lined  with 
water-proof  cement.  Upon  the  top  of  it, 
and  even  with  the  floor  of  the  Cathedral, 
is  placed  a  beautiful  white  marble  cross, 
about  six  feet  long.  Upon  the  top  part  of 
this  cross  is  engraved  in  bass-relief  the  Bi- 
ble and  the  Missal  surrounded  with  a  halo 
of  glory.  Resting  upon  these  are  the  Cross 


118  LIFE    OF    THE 

and  the  Crosier  and  the  Mitre,  and  under- 
neath the  whole,  and  joined  by  a  band  in 
the  centre,  are  two  laurel  wreaths,  which 
extend  round  the  design  so  as  to  embrace 
three  parts  of  it.  On  the  horizontal  part 
of  the  cross  is  engraved  in  raised  Roman 
letters  the  following  inscription  : 

"  Rt.  Rev.  William  Quarter,  D.  D.,  First 
Bishop  of  Chicago.  Consecrated  March 
10th,  1844:  died  April  10th,  1848:  aged 
42  years." 

On  the  lower  end  is  engraved  in  sunk 
letters  the  following : 

"  Requiescat  in  Pace." 

At  the  head  of  the  cross,  and  in  the  step 
of  the  altar,  is  a  marble  step,  about  two 
feet  four  inches  long,  on  the  rises  of  which 
is  a  scroll  bearing  the  following  inscription  : 

"  Pretiosa  in  .  Conspectu  Domini,  mors 
sanctorum  ejus." 

The  regard  of  the  congregation  of  St. 
Mary's  for  their  Bishop  is  evinced  in  their 
liberality,  which  has  erected  a  beautiful 
Cenotaph  to  his  memory.  To  this  work  the 


RT.    REV.    WM.    QUARTER.  119 

protestants  of  the  city  contributed  generous- 
ly, and  of  their  number  Miss  Mary  A.  Mer- 
ritt,  a  young  poetess  of  rare  gifts,  has  given 
a  volume  of  her  beautiful  poems,  the  proceeds 
of  the  sale  of  which  are  to  be  added  to  the 
contributions  already  given.  It  is  built  af- 
ter the  style  of  similar  monuments  in  the 
churches  of  Europe.  It  stands  in  the  south 
wall  of  the  Cathedral,  within  about  two 
feet  of  the  south  altar,  and  is  seven  feet 
four  inches  high,  by  four  feet  three  inches 
wide,  projecting  eight  inches  from  the 
face  of  the  wall.  The  whole  stands  upon 
two  ogee  trusses  placed  about  four  feet 
from  the  floor.  Resting  on  these  is  a  small 
projecting  base,  upon  which  stands  two 
plain  pilasters,  surmounted  by  plain  caps 
and  a  plain  Roman  arch,  the  faces  of  which 
are  on  a  level  with  the  wall  forming  the 
inner  recess.  Upon  this  arch  is  engraved 
in  bold  Roman  letters  : 

"  Gloria  in  excelsis  Deo." 
In  the  rear  of  the  arch   and   of  the  pilas- 
ters, and  constituting    the    recess,  stands 


120  LIFE    OF    THE 

the  back  plate,  upon  which  is  engraved  in 
bold  bas-relief — the  Bible,  the  Missal,  the 
halo  of  glory,  the  Cross,  the  Crosier,  the 
Mitre,  and  the  laurel  wreath,  as  before 
described,  This  recess  is  twenty-one  inch- 
es wide,  and  four  feet  eight  inches  in 
height.  Outside  of  the  foregoing  work  are 
the  wall  plates,  slightly  Gothic  on  the  top. 

These  plates  rest  upon  the  outer  end  of 
the  base  before  mentioned,  projecting  two 
and  a  half  inches  from  the  wall.  Against 
these  and  the  plain  pilasters  stand  a  pair 
of  pilasters  projecting  outwards  about  six 
inches,  under  and  upon  which  are  Grecian 
bases  and  capitals.  The  principal  mould- 
ings on  the  caps  are  ornamented  with  cor- 
nice-leaf engravings,  and  upon  the  outside 
pilasters  is  sculptured  an  inverted  flambeau 
in  bold  bas-relief,  and  ornamented.  These 
pilasters  and  caps  are  surmounted  by  a  Ro- 
man arch  and  key-stone.  The  principal 
moulding  en  the  arch  is  ornamented  with 
cornice-leaf  engravings. 

Between   the  outside  pilasters  and  rest- 


RT.    REV.    WM.    QUARTER.  121 

ing  upon  the  base  stands  the  Sarcophagus, 
the  height  of  which  is  three  feet  four  inch- 
es, and  the  width  three  feet  five  inches. 
The  mouldings  on  the  caps  are  ornamented 
with  leaf-engravings.  On  the  face  of  the 
Sarcophagus  is  sculptured  heavy  folds  of 
drapery,  under  and  between  which  is  en- 
graved in  raised  Roman  capitals,  the  fol- 
lowing inscription : 

"  Rt  Rev.  William  Quarter,  D.  D.,  First 
Bishop  of  Chicago." 

On  the  top  of  the  Sarcophagus  stands  a 
richly  ornamented  Urn,  fifteen  inches 
high  ;  the  whole  presenting  a  most  beauti- 
ful and  striking  appearance  as  you  ap- 
proach the  altar  from  the  door  of  the  church. 

All  this  work,  which  does  credit  as  well 
to  the  skill  of  the  workmen  as  to  the  city  in 
which  it  was  done,  was  manufactured  at  the 
shop  of  A.  S.  Sherman,  out  of  the  finest 
American  marble. 

Feebly,  however,  does  this  monument 
speak  the  feelings  of  the  hearts  of  those 
who  placed  it  there ;  still  it  speaks  in  lan- 
11 


122  LIFE    OF    THE 

guage  not  to  be  mistaken  :  and  while  one 
Catholic  of  those  that  loved  him  whose  me- 
mory it  perpetuates,  comes  to  bow  before 
St.  Mary's  Altar,  as  his.  eye  rests  upon  that 
marble  tribute,  he  will  offer  up  to  God  his 
earnest  supplications  for  the  happy  repose 
of  the  soul  of  Bishop  Quarter. 

In  reviewing  his  brief  but  brilliant  career, 
every  one  will  be  astonished  at  the  vast 
amount  of  labour  performed  by  him  in  so 
short  a  time.  The  condition  of  the  diocese 
on  his  arrival  has  been  already  noticed. 
Its  condition  immediately  before  his  death, 
and  his  determination  to  improve  it  farther, 
is  thus  described  in  his  last  pastoral  ad- 
dress : 

"  The  great  increase  in  the  number  of  the  Catholic 
population  of  this  city  may  be  inferred  from  the  fol- 
lowing facts :  In  the  year  1844,  when  we  took  pos- 
session of  this  -See,  there  was  only  one  Catholic  church 
in  the  city  of  Chicago.  There  are  now  four,  together 
with  the  chapel  of  "•  the  Holy  name  of  Jesus,"  at- 
tached to  "  the  University  of  St.  Mary  of  the  Lake." 
This  one  Catholic  church,  then  under* roof,  but  not 
finished,  accommodated  all  the  Catholics  on  Sundays. 
The  German  Catholics,  the  Irish  and  American  Catho- 
lics, assembled  within  its  walls  to  assist  at  the  divine 
mysteries,  and  were  not  pressed  for  room.  The  Ger- 


RT.    REV.    WM.    QUARTER.  123 

man  Catholic  churches  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Joseph 
have  since  been  built ;  the  Catholic  church  of  St. 
Patrick  also,  which  has  lately  been  enlarged  by  an 
addition  capable  of  containing  as  many  as  the  original 
edifice.  The  University  of  St.  Mary  of  the  Lake  has 
been  built  within  that  time,  to  which  is  attached  the 
chapel  of  the  Holy  name  of  Jesus ;  as  also  the  Con- 
vent of"  the  Sisters  of  Mercy,"  which  has  its  domes- 
tic chapel.  Now,  all  those  places,  set  apart  for  the 
worship  of  God.  and  for  the  celebration  of  the  august 
sacrifice  of  the  Mass,  are  crowded  every  Sunday  to 
overflowing  with  Catholics.  What  stronger  proof  is 
needed  of  the  great  and  rapid  increase  of  Catholics  in 
this  city  1  But  not  only  in  Chicago,  but  throughout 
the  diocese,  is  the  increase  of  Catholics  apparent. 
Within  the  last  few  years,  Catholics  have  purchased 
here  Congress  and  other  lands  to  a  large  amount ; 
and  in  various  parts  of  the  State  of  Illinois  are  town- 
ships owned  chiefly  by  Catholics. — Immigration  from 
Ireland,  from  Canada,  and  from  Catholic  portions  of 
Germany,  has  contributed  much  to  this  result ;  nor  is 
there,  to  all  appearance,  any  likelihood  that  the  num- 
bers of  such  immigrants  will  be  diminished  this  year, 
or  for  years  to  come.  Indeed,  the  calculation  is,  that 
there  will  be  a  larger  immigration  of  Catholics  to  this 
State  the  present  year,  than  any  preceding  one. 

"  There  is  no  privation  so  keenly  felt  by  the  Ca- 
tholic emigrant,  as  the  want  of  a  Catholic  church,  and 
the  absence  of  a  Catholic  priest  from  the  place  where 
they  fix  their  abode,  in  a  new  and  to  them  strange 
country.  We  shall  use  our  best  efforts  that  they  ex- 
perience no  such  privations.  We  shall  endeavour 
that  they  have,  everywhere  in  the  diocese,  the  con- 
solations of  their  holy  religion." 


124  LIFE    OF    THE 

During  the  period  of  his  episcopacy  he 
ordained  twenty-nine  priests  ;  built  thirty 
churches,  ten  of  which  were  either  of  brick 
or  of  stone.  He  began  his  labours  with 
six  clergymen  in  his  diocese,  and  not  one 
ecclesiastical  student ;  he  left  it  with  fifty- 
three  clergymen  and  twenty  ecclesiastical 
students.  And  on  all  the  improvements 
made  by  him  in  Chicago,  there  was  not  due 
one  cent  of  debt ! 

What  Catholic  can  look  upon  this  young 
Diocese  without  exultation  ?  Here  in  these 
wilds,  where,  but  a  brief  period  since, 
the  savage  yelled  his  startling  war-whoop ; 
— where  curled  up  the  smoke  of  his  council 
fire  ; — where  he  honoured  the  Manitou  with 
human  sacrifices  and  the  war-dance; — is 
now  hymned  the  praises  of  the  God  of  the 
Savage  and  the  Christian, — is  reared  the 
altar  upon  which  the  pure  halocust  is  daily 
offered  up,  and  far  above  the  tall  prairie 
grass,  and  resting  upon  the  horizon,  is  the 
emblem  of  man's  redemption,  the  sign  to 
the  way-worn  traveller  that  civilization  is 
at  hand  ; — the  sign  to  the  pilgrim,  wearied 


RT.    REV.    WM.    QUARTER.  125 

on  his  journey  towards  the  grave,  that  the 
haven  where  he  may  rest  is  hard  by. 

And  here  through  these  wilds  passed  this 
messenger  of  truth  on  his  episcopal  visita- 
tions which  were  yearly  made,  bearing  the 
glad  tidings  of  salvation  to  his  people  ; — 
proclaiming  the  precepts  of  the  Gospel  and 
Christ,  and  breaking  the  bread  of  life  to 
those  hungering  by  the  way  side  ; — building 
churches,  establishing  missions,  and  pla- 
cing over  them  zealous  pastors  who  might 
labour  for  that  people's  good. 

It  is  true  that  he  experienced  much  diffi- 
culty in  so  establishing  many  of  these  mis- 
sions, as  that  his  priests  might  be  enabled 
to  obtain  from  them  a  bare  subsistence. — 
In  many  places  the  settlements  were  thinly 
populated  ;  the  settlers  but  recently  arrived, 
and  with  means  so  scanty  as  barely  to  en- 
able them  to  provide  for  the  immediate 
wan^s  of  their  little  families,  and  therefore 
unable,  no  matter  what  their  desire,  to  con- 
tribute any  thing  considerable  for  religious 
purposes.  Still  he  struggled  on,  and  God 

blessed  his  perseverance. 
11  * 


126  LIFE    OP  THE 

He  himself  set  the  example  which  that 
faithful  priesthood  followed  ;  and  though 
their  support  was  bare  indeed,  they  com- 
plained not,  but  cheerfully  laboured  in 
poverty  and  in  privations,  while  they  knew 
that  the  condition  of  their  Bishop  was  no 
better  than  their  own. 

The  settlement  of  Bishop  Quarter  re- 
minds us  of  a  husbandman  going  upon  a 
new  and  uncultivated  farm,  with  very  li- 
mited resources  and  a  full-grown  family, 
and  where  there  is  no  dwelling  and  but  a 
few  implements  of  husbandry.  There  is 
stir  and  bustle  and  confusion  and  effort,  to 
build  here, — to  clear  there, — to  plant  in  an- 
other place.  By  and  by  the  farm-house 
will  be  reared,  the  farm  in  a  high  state  of 
cultivation,  and  well  stocked ;  the  fields 
will  soon  contribute  their  rich  and  abundant 
harvest,  the  family  will  quietly  enjoy  the 
fruits  of  their  former  industry,  and  comfort 
and  happiness  will  reign  around  the  man- 
sion. If  the  thought  that  he  may  not  live  to 
reap  the  fruits  of  his  toil  should  flit  across  the 
father's  mind,  he  does  not  on  that  account 


RT.     REV.    WM.    QUARTER.  127 

relax  his  efforts  ;  but  he  labours  on  for  his 
children's  sake  ;  for  his  posterity.  In  imagi- 
nation he  sees  them  dwelling  amid  plenty  f 
when  his  resting  place  is  in  the  wet  earth 
beneath  the  green  sod. 

The  people  were  the  children  of  Bishop 
Quarter ;  and  though  he  might  not  live  to 
gather  the  rich  harvest  from  the  seed  he 
had  sown,  he  yet  did  not  cease  to  scatter 
that  seed  with  a  full  hand ;  but  he  saw  his 
children  happy  and  enjoying  the  full  bene- 
fits of  their  holy  faith,  their  children  grow- 
ing up  in  virtue  and  innocence  ;— -  the  fruit 
watered  copiously  by  the  stream  "  flowing 
fast  by  the  oracle  of  God,"  and  he  saw  too 
the  angels  gathering  up  the  immense  ears 
of  the  ripened  grain,  and  storing  them 
away  in  the  granaries  of  heaven. 

He  heeded  not  the  toil  nor  the  labour. 
The  glory  of  God  and  the  salvation  of  souls 
urged  him  onward,  and  for  these  great 
ends  "he  travelled  by  day  and  by  night,  in 
the  wintery  cold  and  under  the  scorching 
rays  of  the  summer's  sun,  exposed  to  the 
dangers  of  the  swollen  river,  of  the  storms 


128  LIFE    OF    THE 

and  of  the  rain,  and  cheerfully  partook  of 
the  humblest  fare,  glad  to  repose  his  wea- 
ried frame  upon  the  floor  of  the  poor  man's 
hut."  And  as  an  instance  of  how  faithfully 
he  discharged  every  duty  belonging  to  his 
ministry,  I  may  observe,  that  during  the 
last  winter  of  his  life  he  said  mass  every 
morning  in  the  Convent  for  the  Sisters  of 
Mercy;  and  no  matter  how  pleasant  or  un- 
pleasant it  might  be,  the  hour  of  five  o'clock 
found  him  at  the  altar  offering  up  the  holy 
sacrifice. 

He  was,  without  being  rash,  a  naturally 
courageous,  even  a  fearless  man.  After 
the  destruction  of  the  Convent  at  Charles- 
town  by  a  band  of  midnight  incendiaries, 
mobs  became  the  order  of  the  day;  even 
New- York  was  threatened  with  their  pious 
efforts  to  demolish  popish  temples — with 
a  repetition  of  scenes  that  have  stained 
the  escutcheon  of  Massachusetts  forever; 
and  while  one  of  these  popular  gatherings 
was  tossed  and  heaving  like  an  angry  sea 
beneath  the  windows  of  his  residence,  pre- 
paring to  destroy  the  church  opposite  to 


RT.    REV.    WM.    QUARTER. 

him,  he  was  seated  in  his  study,  writing 
his  charity  sermon  to  be  delivered  for  the 
benefit  of  the  Eastern  Dispensary,  a  Pro- 
testant institution ;  and  when  Rev.  Mr. 
Danaher,  his  assistant,  entering  his  room 
and  finding  him  thus  occupied,  expressed 
his  astonishment  at  so  much  calmness  and 
composure,  while  all  around  was  commo- 
tion and  confusion,  Mr.  Quarter  raised  his 
eyes  from  his  manuscript  for  a  moment, 
while  he  replied  in  his  usual  bland  manner 
— "It  is  time  enough  to  think  of  escaping 
when  we  are  attacked." 

He  was  a  faithful  soldier  of  Jesus  Christ, 
endowed  with  extraordinary  moral  courage, 
and  he  knew  no  impossibilities.  Any  thing 
once  determined  by  him  was  half  accom- 
plished. Thought  and  action  went  hand 
in  hand,  and  his  purposes  would  be  effect- 
ed while  many  thought  they  had  not  yet 
been  shaped. — His  eye,  once  fixed  on  any 
object  for  religious  good,  never  lost  sight 
of  it. 

His  powerful  mind  comprehended  the 
most  knotty  questions  almost  at  a  glance, 


130  LIFE    OF    THE 

and  although  his  career  was  one  of  con- 
stant labour,  one  in  which  he  could  repose 
only  upon  his  arms,  yet  he  was  always  pre- 
pared "  to  give  a  reason  for  the  faith  that 
was  in  him." 

He  possessed  an  extraordinary  power 
over  men's  minds.  Though  surrounded  by 
clergymen  of  distinguished  abilities,  yet  his 
judgme-nt  was  supreme  ;  and  so  great  was 
their  confidence  in  his  powers  of  mental 
perception,  that  it  was  always  deferred  to. 

He  was  an  affectionate  and  faithful  pastor 
to  his  people,  entering  cheerfully  into  the 
examination  of  their  wants,  and  struggling 
with  his  best  energies  to  remove  them,  and 
to  make  these  people  comfortable  and 
happy. 

To  his  faithful  priests,  who  bore  with  him 
the  ''burden  of  the  day  and  the  heat,"  he  was 
even  more  affectionate,  merciful  and  in- 
dulgent. He  was  well  aware  of  the  toils 
and  of  tha  fatigues  they  were  obliged  to 
undergo  in  consequence  of  the  extent  of 
their  missions.  He  knew  well  the  danger 
to  which  they  were  exposed  on  those  mis- 


RT.    REV.     WM.    QUARTER.  131 

sions,  where,  without  roads,  they  were 
obliged  to  hunt  their  pathway  through  the 
prairies,  guiding  themselves  by  the  stars 
in  the  heavens,  and  often  sleeping  beneath 
its  blue  arch  with  the  heath  for  their  pil- 
low, and  the  howl  of  the  prairie  wolf 
around  them — without  bridges  which  would 
enable  them  to  avoid  the  madly-rushing 
current  of  the  swollen  river — exposed  to 
the  rains  and  the  fogs,  and  the  pestiferous 
exhalations  of  a  country  rank  with  fester- 
ing vegetation.  He  saw  them  stricken 
down  by  sickness  in  the  midst  of  their  career, 
and  in  places  too  where  their  danger  was 
increased  by  the  want  of  proper  care.  His 
compassionate  heart  grieved  for  them,  and 
with  his  usual  consideration  he  formed 
amongst  them  an  association,  by  means  of 
which  those  thus  afflicted  might  be  re- 
moved to  Chicago,  where  they  would  re- 
ceive proper  attendance  until  health  was 
restored  ;  and  if  in  Chicago  this  could  not 
be  effected,  then  funds  were  supplied  for 
journeying  wherever  in  Europe  or  America, 
it  might  be  necessary  that  the  invalid  should 


132  LIFE    OF    THE 

go.  Those  who  had  laboured  in  the  vine- 
yard of  the  Lord  until  old  age  and  its  at- 
tendant infirmities  overtook  them,  were 
supported  in  the  evening  of  their  days  ;  and 
when  they  could  work  no  longer,  by  funds 
from  this  same  association. 

In  the  pulpit  his  manner  was  solemn  and 
impressive,  and  his  eloquent  lessons  of  Di- 
vine truth  never  failed  to  reach  the  heart, 
and  leave  upon  it  impressions  that  time 
could  not  efface.  The  series  of  sermons  he 
was  engaged  in  delivering  when  death  cut 
short  his  career,  were  master-pieces  of  ar- 
gument and  eloquence,  and  the  crowded 
throngs  that  hung  upon  his  words,  think- 
ing no  time  too  long  to  listen,  showed  how 
much  they  were  appreciated.  Long  will 
these  powerful  exhortations  continue  to  be 
remembered.  Truly  was  his  last  sermon 
a  profession  of  faith. 

Were  I  to  write  all  that  might  be  said 
in  praise  of  the  public  career  of  Bishop 
Quarter,  I  fear  I  would  be  charged  with 
the  common  error  of  biographers,  viz.,  that 
of  endeavouring  to  make  their  heroes  per- 


RT.    REV.    WM.    QUARTER.  133 

feet ;  and  yet  the  charge  would  in  this  case, 
as  I  have  no  doubt  it  often  is  in  others,  be 
incorrectly  made.  His  career,  however, 
will  speak  his  eulogy  in  words  more  elo- 
quent than  pen  can  trace. 

It  was  in  private  life  that  the  rare  quali- 
ties of  his  head  and  heart  could  be  best  ap- 
preciated. Kind,  affable,  gentlemanly,  sin- 
cere with  the  utmost  solicitude,  did  he 
endeavour  on  all  occasions  to  avoid  any 
remark  or  insinuation  that  might  give  the 
least  shadow  of  offence  or  wound  the  most 
sensitive  ;  and  yet  so  firm  in  the  right,  that 
his  opinion,  once  formed,  was  not  to  be 
changed  at  any  risk. 

The  remembrance  of  his  many  virtues 
was  written  in  the  faces  of  all  of  every  de- 
nomination who  came  to  pay  their  last 
respects  to  his  remains — and  the  love  of 
his  own  people  was  manifested  in  the  flood 
of  grief  that  overwhelmed  them  when 
the  news  of  his  unexpected  death  spread 
through  the  city.  It  was  seen  in  the  crowd- 
ed church,  in  the  funeral  train,  in  the  tear- 
ful eyes  of  those  who  came  to  witness  the 
12 


134  LIFE    OP   THE 

performance  of  the  last  sad  rites  over  all 
that  was  left  of  the  Bishop,  who  in  the  full 
vigour  of  his  life  stood  a  few  days  ago  be- 
fore them. 

He  was  remarkable  for  his  kindness  and 
forbearance  towards  those  who  were  with- 
out the  sheepfold  of  the  only  holy  Catholic 
Church.  He  was  well  aware  how  errone- 
ous are  the  opinions  entertained  by  them, 
respecting  the  doctrines  and  practices  of 
that  Church.  He  knew  that  they  were 
taught  to  consider  doctrines  as  cherished 
by  us  which  we  regard  with  a  horror 
even  greater  than  their  own,  and  making 
every  allowance  for  the  fact  that  they 
were  taught  these  errors  from  their  child- 
hood upwards,  that  they  had  been  repeated 
to  them  so  often  as  to  constitute  almost  a 
part  of  their  religious  belief,  he  wondered 
only,  that  while  they  supposed  Catholics 
to  be  so  impious,  they  could  be  even  as 
tolerant  of  them  as  they  were  ; — that  while 
they  charged  them  with  superstition  and 
idolatry,  and  every  crime  in  the  calendar, 


RT.    REV.    WM.    aUARTER.  135 

they  could  even  imagine    that  a  Catholic 
had  any  hope  of  Heaven. 

He  was  not,  therefore,  surprised  at  the 
distrust  with  which  Protestants  look  upon 
the  Catholic  Church  ;  and  he  on  this  account 
treated  their  prejudices  with  becoming 
charity,  confident  that  their  distrust  did  not 
proceed  from  the  heart,  but  from  the  errors 
of  their  early  education ;  and  he  endea- 
voured, whenever  an  opportunity  offered, 
to  remove  the  cause  of  this  prejudice  by 
explaining  to  them  what  were  truly  and 
really  the  doctrines  of  the  Catholic  Church. 
The  increased  liberality  of  the  community 
now  so  remarkable  in  Chicago,  demon- 
strates the  wisdom  of  the  course  that 
seemed  to  him  so  correct. 

Protestants,  he  often  remarked,  do  not  in 
reality  hate  Catholic  doctrines.  They  hate 
only  what  the  enemies,  the  malicious  igno- 
rant enemies  of  the  Church  for  which  Christ 
died,  represent  as  belonging  to  Catholics 
and  Catholic  doctrines.  But  when  the  veil 
defiled  by  these  slanders  is  removed  from 
the  face  of  the  beautiful  Spouse  of  Jesus 


136  LIFE     OP    THE 

Christ ;,  when  the  light  of  her  lovely  coun- 
tenance, beaming  with  a  heavenly  radiance, 
falls  upon  their  hearts ;  they  can,  even  as 
ourselves,  appreciate  that  loveliness  which 
time  cannot  dim,  but  which  increases  for 
ever. 

It  has  been  frequently  asked,  how,  with 
so  little  means,  Bishop  Quarter  accomplish- 
ed so  much.  None  but  a  Catholic  Bishop, 
aided  by  zealous  Catholic  priests,  could 
have  done  the  same.  They  had  no  families 
to  support,  no  worldly  appearances  to  keep 
up  ;  and  they  imitated  the  poverty  of  their 
divine  Master,  contented  to  live  in  need, 
often  upon  hard  dry  bread,  so  that  they  might 
give  all  they  possessed  to  the  advancement 
of  that  holy  cause  on  which  their  hearts 
were  fixed.  What  could  retard  the  pro- 
gress of  the  Church  that  was  supported 
by  such  self-devotion  and  sacrifices — that 
Church  which  had  the  promise  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  to  sustain  her  for  ever — against 
which  "  the  gates  of  hell  cannot  prevail  1" 

Many  kind,  and  generous  and  liberal  Pro- 
testant gentlemen  of  the  city,  aided  him 


RT.    REV.    WM.    QUARTER.  137 

much  by  donations  and  encouragement ;  and 
to  Messrs.  W.  B.  Ogden,  W.  Newberry,  and 
J.  Y.  Scammon,  Esqs.,  the  Catholic  Church 
of  Chicago  owes  a  great  debt  of  gratitude, 
and  one  which  will  not  be  soon  forgotten. 
Besides,  he  was  liberally  assisted  by  that 
staunch  friend  of  his  own,  James  Kerrigan, 
Esq.,  of  New- York,  while  the  funds  and  the 
energies  of  his  dearly  loved  brother,  Very 
Rev.  Walter  J.  Quarter,  were  always  at  his 
disposal. 

By  "  an  inscrutable  decree  of  Divine  Pro- 
vidence," however,  he  was  called  away,  in 
the  midst  of  his  usefulness,  to  make  room 
for  a  worthy  successor.*  How  lamentable 
is  it,  that  the  catastrophe  was  so  sudden ! 
How  precious  would  have  been  the  words 
of  such  a  man,  as  he  calmly  contemplated 
the  passage  to  "  that  land  whence  no  tra- 
veller returns  !"  Oh  !  it  is  at  the  last  hour 
of  life,  when  the  world  is  fast  fading  from 
the  view,  and  the  morning  of  eternity  is 
dawning,  that  the  admonitions  of  the  good 

*  Rt.  Rev.  Jas.  Vandevelde,  D.  D.,  now  Bishop  of 
Chicago. 

12* 


138  LIFE    OF    THE 

are  like  the  prophetic  warnings  of  old, 
which  warm  the  heart  to  virtue,  and  make 
it  better.  It  is  then  that  we  feel  the  little- 
ness of  all  here  below,  and  the  greatness  of 
the  reward  that  may  be  ours  in  heaven. 

He  is  gone,  but  how  richly  does  he  merit 
our  gratitude  !  He  has  left  us  a  priceless 
inheritance  in  our  College  and  our  Convent, 
where  our  children  may  receive  the  reli- 
gious instructions  that  will  fit  them  for  the 
discharge  of  their  duties  in  this  world,  and 
their  rewards  in  the  next ; — but  more  than 
all,  he  has  left  us  his  example. 

Yesterday  he  stood  like  a  tall  column 
firm  upon  its  base,  and  pointing  its  beautiful 
shaft  to  the  heavens  ;  to-day  that  column 
is  broken  in  its  midst,  and  prostrated  to  the 
earth. ,  Yesterday  he  was  in  life  before  us ; 
to-day  he  lives  in  our  memories.  To  die 
as  a  hero  dies,  is  a  glorious  death ;  but  to 
die  as  died  this  faithful  champion  of  the 
cross,  after,  having  sealed  his  ministry, 
was  still  more  glorious.  "  Oh  God !  as  is 
the  heroism  of  thy  armies,  so  is  the  grandeur 
of  thy  triumphs.  How  poor  is  the  splendour 


RT.    REV.    WM.    QUARTER.  139 

that  crowns  earthly  conquests,  to  the  open- 
ing of  the  gates  of  pearl,  leading  into  the 
Golden  City  with  walls  of  sapphire  and 
chrysolite,  in  which  the  great  Captain 
sitteth  upon  the  white  throne,  smiling  upon 
his  servants  who  have  '  fought  the  good 
fight  and  kept  the  faith  !'  The  wreaths 
that  crown  the  brows  of  mortal  victors 
fade  before  the  night ;  theirs  lose  not 
their  fragrance  forever,  and  their  beauty  is 
eternal." 


140  LIFE    OF    THE 


The  following  beautiful  and  touching 
lines  from  the  pen  of  Miss  Merritt,  whose 
name  has  been  already  mentioned,  form 
a  fit  conclusion  to  this  memoir. 

MEMORIAL  OF  t  WILLIAM, 

BISHOP  OF  CHICAGO. 

"  Sorrow  not  as  those  without  a  hope" 

Now  all  is  over !  to  the  requiem 

Of  the  deep  organ,  solemn  in  its  swell, 
They  bore  him  onward  to  the  chamber  dim, 

Our  Friend — our  Father — he  that  loved  us  well ! 
Never !  ah,  never !  shall  as  kind  a  glance 

Send  us  the  greeting  his  was  wont  to  send  : 
O'er  the  calm  brightness  of  his  countenance 

The  chilling  shadows  of  the  grave  descend. 

His  form  is  resting  'neath  the  saintly  shade 

Of  shrine  and  altar  that  he  helped  to  rear ; 
Within  their  silence  he  hath  knelt  and  prayed, 

And  it  is  fitting  we  should  lay  him  here. 
So  may  the  organ's  wild  and  thrilling  peal 

A  mournful  requiem  o'er  his  slumber  pour, 
While  our  hushed  spirits  thrill  again  to  feel 

His  presence  near  us,  though  of  earth  no  more. 


RT.    REV.    WM.    QUARTER.  141 

But  yesterday  we  looked  upon  his  face 

Lit  up  and  kindling  with  the  earnest  soul — 
But  yesterday  within  his  wonted  place, 

From  lips  now  silent,  words  of  fervour  stole. 
Never  !  ah,  never !  shall  their  accents  fall 

Upon  the  stillness  of  the  Sabbath  air, — 
The  smile — the  greeting — these  have  vanish'd  all, 

That  place  is  vacant  by  the  shrine  of  prayer. 

We  might  not  kneel  beside  him  at  the  last, 

To  win  a  blessing  from  his  soul  to  ours, 
Ere  the  Dark  Angel's  pinions  o'er  him  past, 

In  the  dim  silence  of  the  midnight  hours ; 
No  word  of  parting  on  our  hearts  might  sink, 

To  still,  of  sorrows,  this  the  deepest  one, 
Yet  may  we  triumph  in  our  wo  to  think 

His  latest  whisper  was,  "  Thy  will  be  done  !M 

Yes !  on  our  sorrow  breaks  a  fervent  tone, 

An  inward  breathing  to  the  spirit  borne, 
Far  thro'  the  shadow  is  a  star-beam  thrown, 

To  lead  us  upward  to  the  clime  of  morn; 
There  led  his  pathway  through  the  midnight  veil, 

Unto  the  fulness  of  a  Love  Divine  ; 
Now  may  Faith's  whisper,  thrilling  low,  prevail 

O'er  earthly  conflict,  with  a  heavenly  sign. 

And  yet,  oh,  Father!  we  have  lost  in  thee 
All  that  which  language  has  no  power  to  name: 

For  us  thy  heart  beat  true  and  fervently — 
Through  change,  and  coldness,  thou  wert  still  the 
same. 


142  LIFE,    ETC. 

Now  are  our  souls  supremely  desolate, 

Since  gone  the  presence  and  the  smile  that  blest, 

And  wo  !  for  those  on  whom  the  chastening  weight 
Falls  like  a  shadow,  long  and  dim,  to  rest. 

Yet  thou — within  thy  soul's  effulgent  realm, 

Know'st  not  the  sadness  thro'  our  spirit  breathed ; 
But  vain !  oh  vain !  its  clouding  to  o'erwhelm 

Thy  blessed  memory  unto  us  bequeathed  ; 
With  those  who  loved  thee  it  shall  be  a  spell 

Of  holy  influence  shrined  within  the  heart, 
Uplifting  thought  from  earth,  and  earth's  farewell, 

To  the  eternal  dwelling  where  thou  art. 


M.  A.  M. 


